A new wave of identity fraud according to an Associated Press news report,. Hundreds of online businesses are using computers to find dormant Social Security numbers – often those assigned to children — and those companies sell the numbers under another name to help people establish phony credit and to run up huge debts they will never repay .
According to AP: Online companies use computers and publicly available information to find random Social Security numbers. The numbers are run through public databases to determine whether anyone is using these to obtain credit. If not, then those numbers are offered for sale .
Numbers that come from young children who have no money of their own, and carry no spending history and thus offer a chance to open a new, unblemished line of credit. People who buy the numbers quickly build their credit rating in a process called “piggybacking,” which involves linking to someone else’s credit file.
