Synthetic ID Theft
Unlike traditional ID theft, thieves steal your Social Security number, but tie it to a different name creating a new, fictional person. That makes it much harder to detect. The thieves open bank accounts and credit cards, and can even get jobs with this “synthetic identity”.
Itcan take years to uncover because it is difficult for the authorities and creditors to unravel all the mismatched information. Since the fraud isn’t committed in your name, it typically doesn’t showup on your credit report because not enough of the ID information matches you.
How can you find out if you have been a victim of synthetic identity theft? Look at your Social Security statement that you receive once a year very carefully and make sure that there income on there is actually what you earned and not more.
While synthetic ID fraud doesn’t typically show up on your credit report, it is still important to check your report yearly to verify all activity.
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