Is the Government-Issued ID Fake?

The line from “The Godfather” rings true within the age of digital fraud and stolen identities: It’s not private; it’s strictly enterprise.

A tenet of enterprise is diversification. The extra diversified one is, the extra seemingly one will see a return on funding. Fraud is a enterprise, and the criminals search ROI.

“We’re not speaking about knuckleheads doing this,” Intellicheck CEO Bryan Lewis advised Karen Webster in an interview. “We’re speaking about of us who’re subtle criminals. And there are many locations that they will go.”

The sheer quantity of information on the market, the hacked credentials, the Social Safety numbers and the pretend IDs are fodder for scammers to pose as another person in a bid to commit fraud. The Id Theft Useful resource Middle estimated that there have been about 1.1 billion information breach victims within the first half of 2024, a rise of 490% in comparison with the primary half of 2023.

It’s no shock, then, that fraud is creeping into all transactions, spanning retail, healthcare and actual property. Actual property fraud entails utilizing pretend info, together with credentials, paperwork and artificial IDs, to mislead property patrons, sellers, lenders or title insurers for monetary acquire.

The FBI estimated that actual property losses reached greater than $390 million in 2022.

Fraudsters are adept at exploiting digital vulnerabilities, so the quantity could also be understated, Lewis stated. One title insurance coverage agency that works with Intellicheck, Doma, estimated that the common loss on a per-transaction foundation exceeded $500,000.

Don’t count on a respite anytime quickly, even because the financial system stays resilient and rates of interest come down, Lewis stated. Fraudsters take no breaks, so fraud charges and makes an attempt will go up, and criminals will hold going after industries comparable to actual property which can be nonetheless utilizing old-school knowledge-based authentication.

The place the Vulnerabilities and Defenses Lie

Actual property fraud might be most jarring with title fraud as a result of would-be clients don’t notice they don’t personal the land or the property they’ve purchased till after the very fact, generally after the transferring truck pulls up, Lewis stated. Fraudsters go the place the markets are scorching, notably Texas, California or Florida. They aim trip markets the place individuals don’t dwell year-round or empty tons, so it’s simpler to benefit from places that are occupied solely among the time. They aim the aged and non-residents, they usually set sights on properties the place turnover is excessive. Vrbo, Zillow and different actual property web sites provide a broad swath for swindling.

So far as protection, Intellicheck’s mainstay in id verification lies with verifying the authenticity of government-issued IDs, comparable to driver’s licenses. The plastic, government-issued identifiers are nonetheless half and parcel of on a regular basis transactions, from checking right into a resort to purchasing a home.

The verification is essential for title insurance coverage companies and actual property brokers as a result of nobody’s accustomed to all states’ licenses and the way they’re speculated to look, he stated.

4 of the highest 5 title corporations in the USA use Intellicheck to confirm IDs, and the corporate’s know-how stops hundreds of would-be fraud makes an attempt each day, Lewis stated.

Wanting over the long run, he stated his agency is in discussions with its clients about how information might be shared extra extensively in order that corporations and shoppers might be conscious that somebody has tried to make use of their credentials for malfeasance, notably as decrease rates of interest spur extra actual property transactions.

“If you’re not utilizing subtle instruments to see if the plastic is actual, you’ll get caught,” Lewis advised Webster.