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Cape Town - Scams involving criminals working with corrupt officials to recycle identities of deceased persons are on the rise in South Africa, says a security expert.
"Fraudsters can trawl cemeteries, online obituaries even newspapers to find a deceased person that fits the profile they are looking for - for example the right gender, age group and racial profile," Independent Identity Verification expert Dawid Jacobs told Fin24.
Jacobs has observed what he calls a significant spike in the recycling of identities in SA. He said that identity theft has become a lucrative crime that affects both the living and families of the dead.
"It affects both the living and the deceased. ID theft is the fastest growing crime in the world today. It is estimated to generate half a trillion US dollars. Javelin Research claims that every 79 seconds somebody has their Identity stolen. ID theft leads to more serious crimes, including Money Laundering, Human Trafficking and Terrorism," Jacobs said.
In SA, identity theft is facilitated by an entire ecosystem of underworld operators who specialise in capturing financial information with which to conduct the crimes.
Underworld operators
Fin24 user Beulah Roman recently had to change her entire bank account details after cyber criminals had managed to fraudulently debit her account with R400 per day.
While laws like the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (38 of 2001), known as Fica, seek to eliminate money laundering and provide a safe financial transacting environment, criminals don't play by the rules.
"Through various channels including illicit means they [criminals] can then recreate an identity book or passport and proof of address (everything required by Fica). In essence enough information to be able to open a bank account, apply for credit, goods and services. Obviously none of this will be re-paid and the scam is complete," said Jacobs.
Identity thieves use the personal information to conduct financial fraud. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
As part of a campaign to protect identities, Jacobs said he is offering free verification of a family member's identification as a way of preventing it from being recycled for criminal enterprise.
"The family should register the name and ID number of the deceased free of charge on the Nirvana database, which can be found on our website."
In the US, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) most wanted cyber criminal is Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev. He is wanted in connection with bank fraud; conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; conspiracy to Violate the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act; aggravated Identity Theft, among other crimes.
The FBI has posted a reward of $3m for information leading to his arrest and conviction. According to the agency, Bogachev is responsible for the Zeus malware which was able to "capture bank account numbers, passwords, personal identification numbers, and other information necessary to log into online banking accounts".
Watch this News24 Live video on how syndicates operate in some banks:
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