What is new account fraud?
New account fraud occurs any time a bad actor creates an account in your system utilizing a fake or stolen identity. This process is referred to by different names, such as account takeover fraud, account creation fraud, or account opening fraud.
Examples of some of the more common types of new account fraud include:
- Synthetic identity (ID) fraud:This type of fraud occurs when the scammer uses a real, stolen credential combined with fake credentials. For example, they might use someone’s real Social Security number combined with a fake email.
- Identity theft:In this case, the fraudster uses personal information they stole to create a new scam account.
- Fake identity:With this type of fraud, scammers create an account with wholly fake credentials that haven’t been stolen from any particular person.
New account fraud may target individuals, but the repercussions spill over to impact entire organizations. In fact, many scammers utilize bots to attempt to steal information or create fake accounts en masse, upping the stakes even more.
Expert Digital Marketer
Bridget Benner is a digital marketing leader at Experian focused on transforming B2B growth through AI innovation, analytics, and customer-centric web strategy.