A father and son from Pittsford, New York built a synthetic identity fraud operation that stole real Social Security numbers to open more than a thousand fraudulent credit accounts over roughly 12 years, prosecutors say.
Why it matters
Synthetic identity fraud -- blending real stolen identifiers like Social Security numbers with fabricated details -- is one of the fastest-growing and hardest-to-detect forms of financial crime because the resulting 'person' passes standard identity checks for years before lenders notice a pattern.
What to watch
A federal jury has convicted both Hussain and Khan on multiple fraud counts; sentencing will determine restitution owed to the financial institutions and individuals whose identities were used.