LifeLock Blog

Criminals have been stealing people’s identities since the invention of the credit card. The idea of having a credit line that they don’t have to pay for is very enticing to a criminal. There is a new bread of identity theft surfacing and it’s called synthetic identity theft. No longer do criminals need your personal information all they have to do is guess and they can steal your identity while getting credit cards with you social security number.

The thief doesn’t need to know your social security number all they have to know is where and when you were born. After 1980 the government started giving people Social Security numbers that followed a pattern. The first three digits are the place of birth, and the next two are the birth month. The last 4 digits are given out in order, which can be guessed using some public database information and some math. Experts say that the correct last four digits can be guessed 44% of the time using this method.

Even if the identity thieves get the numbers wrong they can still get the information past the credit cards security checks. The Social Security number belongs to someone but the identity thief basically creates a fictitious person. All the thief needs is a P.O. box and he can apply for dozens of credit cards. Eventually the credit card companies figures out what is happening and will stop it, but not before money and identities have been stolen.

The reason synthetic identity theft works is because banks are more concerned with issuing credit cards and dealing with the fraud on the backend then they are with dealing with all the checks and investigations before issuing credit. Either way consumers pay for the damages.