On Thursday morning, readers of The Sydney Morning Herald woke up to front-page fraud. The three top stories were an overhaul of the NDIS to clear out shonky providers, announced the day before by Health and Disability Minister Mark Butler; millions of dollars being laundered through poker machines by people whose occupations could not justify the possession of such large sums; and the alleged pilfering of $1.5 million in cash and purchases from billionaire Judith Neilson by her private secretary.
Side by side, each story exhibits the three points of the “fraud triangle” – a model explained to me by Paul Curby, founding partner of Curby McLintock, a…
Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.
- How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.