Identity Thieves Use Stolen SSN#'s to Create Fake Identities

Identity thieves have started using stolen social security numbers to create fictional persons. In what authorities have termed "synthetic identity theft", thieves have started creating fictional persons. They use these identities for a variety of purposes incuding, employment, obtaining credit and open bank accounts. This is a much harder type of theft to detect, because the frauds are not committed in the victim's name. Oftentimes they do not even appear on credit reports.