At least 1 in 5 fraudsters are multi-sector offenders. Up to 66% of victim IDs are reused, most for 90+ days – research.

More than 20 percent of ID theft victims have their identity reused to access different financial services and products, according to data from National SIRA, the UK’s largest fraud database.

In one particular case, a single stolen identity was used 10 times across seven products in four different sectors, including motor insurance, loans, credit cards, mobile phones and business banking. Around a fifth (19 percent) of reused identities are also later utilized to create synthetic identities, notes a report from National SIRA’s operator Synectics Solutions.

The data analysis and fraud prevention firm highlights that stolen identity reuse rises to 66 percent in cases linked to ghost broking, a form of insurance fraud where scammers pose as insurance middlemen to sell fake motor insurance policies. The number of ghost broking victims has risen by 93 percent year-on-year, the research warns.

Most reused identities remain active for more than 90 days, harming both identity theft victims and organizations. To speed up fraud investigations, organizations should rely on both cross-sector information and their own data

“Our new findings make clear that identity theft can no longer be treated as a single event to resolve,” says Synectics Solutions CEO Richard Wood. “Our collective mindset must now shift from finding a fraud incident, to interrupting the harm that builds for victims throughout the identity misuse lifecycle.”