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- TransUnion - Synthetic Identity And Credit Washing Hit Record Losses đ°
TransUnion - Synthetic Identity And Credit Washing Hit Record Losses đ°
Frank McKenna
May 20, 2025
Hi Fraud Fighters đ
Another big week in fraud. Will it ever stop? Regrettably no.
Letâs get to the fraud news.
Fraud Snippets This Week
SSA Fraud Checks Create Chaos- The SSA rolls back its phone fraud strategy after it bombed miserably. Out of the 110,000 calls that resulted in holds, only two âpotentially suspicious claimsâ were detected. Over 575,000 claims are now stuck in the backlog thanks to the ham-handed strategy. Read More
$470 To Get Home - 215 poor Vietnamese scam workers are stuck in a Myanmar refugee camp after being freed because they canât afford the fee to get home. Many are falling very sick. Read More
32 Strike Allowance Is Fueling Scam Boom At Meta - A blistering article in the Wall Street Journal sheds light on rampant fraud at Meta. 70% of newly active advertisers are promoting scams, and Meta lets them have up to 32 automated strikes before it takes any action to stop them. Read More
Bags of Cash At The Teller Window - The Wall Street Journal covers a massive Chinese Money Laundering ring that took bags of cash to teller windows at major banks, tracking how a Range Rover-driving operative moved millions through ATMâs and tellers in Los Angeles. Read More
The Daring Underwater Scooter Escape - A fraudster tried to escape arrest by using an underwater scooter to cross Lake Shasta to evade police chasing him. Read More
AI Wedding Photographer Scammers - Scammers are setting up gorgeous-looking websites with stunning images, purportedly showing their wedding portfolios, but itâs all AI-generated. Read More
Even Celebrities Get Catfished - Tommy Lee of Motley Crue's wife was the victim of an elaborate online catfish scheme by someone impersonating Ronnie Radke of the band Falling in Reverse. The scheme has reportedly put her marriage on the ârocksâ. Read More
Colleges Are Turning Into Fraud Zones - Between AI-powered cheating and AI Bots posing as real students and stealing millions in financial aid, colleges struggle to detect fraud and preserve academic integrity. Read More
Hack Your VW- A security researcher hacked into his VW after he couldnât get the OTP code from the prior owner. He shows how anyone could hack your car in a few minutes. Read More
Hummer Scam - A hummer tries to pull off an insane insurance scam, which was caught on dashcam. Watch It
Second Arrest Made In South Beach Bust Out Gang After Santander Gets Hit
The SouthBeach bust-out syndicate is crumbling. This week, Pavel Gomez-Deben was arrested. He was arrested Saturday after he tried to purchase a $175,000 Mercedes-Benz. This is the second big bust in two weeks of what appears to be players in the bust-out fraud ring.
Point Predictive has tracked losses for this bust-out gang, which now exceeds $24 million.
TransUnion Report - Synthetic Identity And Credit Washing Hit All-Time High
A newly released TransUnion Fraud Report reveals that both synthetic identity and credit washing have hit an all time high since they began tracking fraud in 2009.
Credit Washing has doubled since 2021, and Synthetic Identity accounted for over $3.3 billion in losses to the industry. Bank cards experienced the highest incident rates with over 100 basis points of fraud.
Tariff Dodging Fraud Schemes Are Rising
Chinese exporters are using a host of new fraudulent tariff dodging schemes using freight-forwarders and shell companies to systematically undervalue merchandise.
This is a growing scheme first reported on by Karisse Hendrick.
The Governmentâs 1,200 Basis Point Application Fraud Rate Problem
A new Socure report details how fraud rings operating from China, Russia, Poland, and India are responsible for up to 1 out of every 8 applications submitted for government programs. Thatâs 12% of all applications submitted.
Itâs a bit ironic that the government is focused on Zelleâs 8 basis point fraud and scam problem while letting foreign fraud rings run rampant on its programs.
The full 12-page report is posted below which details how they arrived at the estimate.
This Is Me Trying To Figure Out Visaâs Vamp Fraud Program
Visaâs Vamp program has been updated yet again, and it's confusing to figure out exactly how itâs going to work, with an array of formulas, math equations, exclusions, and leaps of imagination. đ
This guy, Rick Lynch, does a pretty good job of explaining the new changes, but stillâŠ
Haowang Guarantee Suspends Operations After Massive Telegram Purge
Major news in Pig Butchering crackdowns and the massive Haowang Guarantee that launders their scam money.
After Telegram purged thousands of accounts last week, the conglomerate announced it was âceasing operations from now on.â
Coinbase Places $20 Million Bounty On Hackers
Hackers bribed Coinbase employees to steal names, social security numbers and contact information. The hackers then used the theft of that information to demand $20 million in Bitcoin.
The CEO went full Liam Neeson (I will find you and I will kill you) on the hackers and vowed to find them, electing not to pay the ransom but using the $20 million as a bounty to find them and bring them to justice.
Kid Mobile Deposited Half A Million In Fake Checks To Pay His Lawyer For Fraud Case
19-year-old William Jones used mobile deposit to cash $545,000 into a fraudulent business account at Synovus.
First thing he did was buy a Porsche (of course), and then he paid his criminal lawyer, who was defending him in another fraud case.
7 Months In - UK Scam Reimbursement Is Showing Great Stats
UK banks switched to mandatory reimbursement for APP scams in October and the first glimpse of how it is doing was published last week.
So far its looking great. 86% of victims are getting their money back and despite experts predicting a spike in fraud due to careless customers just didnât happen.
Dealership Cloning Scams Are Spreading And Hitting CarFax Now
International scammers have found a new exploit - cloning dealership websites and posting fake car listings to lure victims.
But a clever new twist is making them more deadly than ever - they are posting those listings on CarFax, which has often been considered the âgold standardâ for security.
Kraken Caught A North Korean Spy And Strung Him Along
When a North Korean hacker attempted to infiltrate Kraken, they decided to string him along through their rigorous hiring process to set a trap for him.
It all crashed horribly for the applicant when he could not answer a simple question about the best restaurants in Houston, a city he reported living in.
Socure Says Synthetic Identity Fraudsters Donât Like To Move Fingers Much
A new analysis by Socure suggests that fraudsters are lazy when creating synthetic identity social security numbers.
They use repeating patterns of numbers very close together. Socure says, it could be due to OCD compulsions or preference for the lower part of the keypad.
She Met Owen Wilson Playing Yahtzee Online. Then He Sent Her A Deepfake
âHello Sunshineâ, the video begins. Itâs Owen Wilson, proving he is real. But of course it is a complete deepfake that was sent to a elderly victim who reportedly met him while playing Yahtzee online.
Thatâs all folks!
Have a great week