2022 Azbee Awards of Excellence

Category

Print > Feature Article > 11 or Fewer Issues per Year > Mid Atlantic

Awarded to

Megan Gates, Senior Editor

Entry details

Frankenstein Fraud

Issue or publication date: May/June 2021
Publication name: Security Management
Publishing/parent company: ASIS International
Website home page: https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/latest-news/sm-homepage/

About the publication's mission and readership:

https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/resources/about-sm/

Description of the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

Synthetic identity fraud is sometimes known as “Frankenstein Fraud” because fraudsters take personal information from multiple real people to create a new, fake identity. This type of fraud for unsecured U.S. credit products totaled $1.8 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $2.42 billion in 2023.
To help Security Management readers understand this threat and how it could potentially be mitigated, Senior Editor Megan Gates reviewed a series of U.S. Federal Reserve reports to gain insights into how synthetic identity fraud has changed from an in-person fraud tactic to something that can be conducted solely online. The reports also exposed how financial institutions miss signs of synthetic identity fraud. Some of these are because the fraudsters are creative, others are because the financial institute itself has a policy or procedure that limits flagging of fraudulent activity.
Gates examined court documents to learn about fraudsters who have come to the attention of law enforcement and been prosecuted. She also reviewed a new report from research firm Aite Group and interviewed the lead researcher about her findings that suggest that total losses attributed to synthetic identity fraud might total $6 billion—far more than what has been reported by financial institutions.
This work resulted in an in-depth feature article that provided Security Management readers with an understanding of the scope of synthetic identity fraud, measures they can take to detect and prevent it, and actions needed at the global level to stop fraudsters.

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