Stealing An Identity | Intellicheck Podcast

This week’s topic is Stealing an Identity.  With us this week is Bryan Lewis, CEO of Intellicheck. Discover how identity theft costs just $60 and why fake IDs scan perfectly. IntelliCheck CEO Bryan Lewis reveals the shocking reality of stolen identities and the advanced verification technology needed to stop fraudsters.

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:08] Bill Roth: Hello, and welcome everybody to the fourth episode of the Intellicheck podcast. I'm your host, Bill Roth. This is the show where we delve into the news and issues around identity verification, identity fraud, and the tools needed to combat it. This week's topic is stealing an identity and how terrifyingly easy it is to do so. With us this week is IntelliCheck CEO Bryan Lewis, a noted expert on the subject, as you will find out. Welcome, Bryan.

[00:00:36] Bryan Lewis: Thanks for having me. It's a fun time.

[00:00:38] Bill Roth: So we had had some conversations in the past, and you talked about just how frighteningly easy it is to steal an identity. Tell us a little bit about that because it's way easier than I thought it was.

[00:00:50] Bryan Lewis: Oh, I definitely bum my friends out when I talk about how easy it is to do it. You know, the amount of information about all of us that has been hacked is what makes it so simple to steal your identity. You know, I think last year I was involved in nine data hacks, you know, and I think the biggest one was, you know, United Healthcare. Everything about me was hacked, right down to pictures of my driver's license, which means now you have everything you need to know to say that you're Bryan. Now, the other thing I'll say is, if you think about it, when you go in to do anything and somebody asks you to prove who you are, they ask for two things. Government-issued ID and Social Security number. Well, these are all fakes that we have gotten from our customers, right? And our law enforcement agencies, who can say, yep, we confiscated these. Those are cheap. So let's talk about the cost to go in and buy your identity, all that information, name, address, Social Security number, email, and phone number, going to be about $20. To buy one of these fakes that is so good it's hard for law enforcement to look at them and see if they're real. It's going to be $40. So for basically $60, I become you, and I can go shopping, I can open up bank accounts, I can walk into the bank and pretend to be you, and withdraw all your money. So it is cheap, simple, and easy.

[00:02:35] Bill Roth: It's terrifying because you said $20?

[00:02:39] Bryan Lewis: Oh, yeah. And then the other thing is like, simple enough to search. You can go online, like, oh, your PayPal account, if it's got $1,000 in it, I can get you. I can buy the login credentials for $20. Getting your Facebook account, login credentials, $45. Getting your credit card with the CVC, about $20. So being able to take over somebody's persona is pretty simple, cheap, and easy.

[00:03:12] Bill Roth: And I think that includes Social Security numbers as well. Which is sort of key for an I-9.

[00:03:17] Bryan Lewis: And every one of these websites that sells you the fake ID, for an additional charge, they'll sell you a Social Security card with a number on it. And again, since I already know what it is, it's going to match. And you know, and if you think about it, I think around 300 million over the past 15 years, driver's licenses have been hacked, right? That means that because there are two numbers on a driver's license that sort of make it unique, there is a document discriminator, and there's the ID number. But when you go to these sites, the ones even on the bright web, let alone the dark web, you can plug in all those numbers so everything will match what's in the DMV.

[00:04:04] Bill Roth: Even the barcode on the back.

[00:04:05] Bryan Lewis: That's the thing that they can't do.. Barcode has so many unique hidden features in it that you can't, you can't counterfeit that. And that's where, as Intellicheck, that's what we know. We know all those hidden features, and that's why we're so accurate at detecting a fake ID.

[00:04:27] Bill Roth: Now you've got a bunch of sort of clients that are doing this. So it sounds like you've got extra secret sauce. You understand all of the checksums in the ID, but there's, there's, I think there's other things as well that you do to counter the problem of identity theft.

[00:04:46] Bryan Lewis: Yeah, and it depends on the state, province, or territory. There are 250 valid forms of barcodes in circulation today. No state, no province, no territory does them the same way. Some states have, you know, digital signatures, some have checksum digits, as you said, some have directories that you need to be able to open. And if you don't know how to do those, which we do from working the DMVs, then you can't be sure every single one of these fakes will scan. So just because it scans doesn't mean it's real. And that's a problem that a lot of people make. They assume that because it scans, it's real. So the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators publishes a standard format. You have to fall within the guidelines, but it doesn't mean you follow that exact format.

However, the counterfeiters know because it's public information, and all of these fakes follow that format. So all of them will scan. And that means whatever has been printed on the front of this license is going to match what scans in the back. But that does not mean you're not dealing with a counterfeit.

[00:06:10] Bill Roth: Right. Because there's extra stuff. One assumes that sort of real ID with some of the holographs, holograms, and biometrics. Does that help at all?

[00:06:20] Bryan Lewis: So the biometrics, it's really kind of, it's a second step. A lot of people are talking about how, you know, I can give you a passkey or let you in because your face matches. But, if I get a fake ID that goes through my face on the fake, my face will match it, but it doesn't mean I'm real. And now you just let the fox in the hen house.

[00:06:50] Bill Roth: Yeah, that's terrifying. And it's one of the reasons why we wanted to do this episode because it's, I thought it would be, it would require a lot more. And then I think we won't, we won't mention the websites, but you showed me a couple of websites, just how frighteningly easy it is.

[00:07:09] Bryan Lewis: Easy, cheap. Every state, every province, every territory, international, they have them all. And I think what's interesting is so many people think that the Real ID makes it more secure. I will tell you this: within 30 days of a state coming out with the real ID, it's for sale on the dark web.

[00:07:33] Bill Roth: Terrifying. Terrifying. Now, just for those, I think this is, this episode is going to expose us to a lot of new folks. So I think there are a number of ways that Intellicheck does it. I know you have a mobile app and you also have another way, but I mean, you've got a fairly transparent, easy way for customers to do this kind of validation.

[00:07:53] Bryan Lewis: Oh, you know, what I'd say is most people listening to this have probably gone through the Intellicheck process and never knew it. If you, you know, if you've gotten a credit card in a store, or like me, I don't like carrying around my white label credit cards, but I like my points. You know, they'll ask you for the driver's license and scan it and then what we do is, you know, either start the application process, we make it really simple because you don't have to type anything in other than say your Social Security number, or if you're doing an account lookup, scan it and we send off the information to the bank and say,

“Here's Bryan Lewis. This is a valid license. Here's the information. Does he have credit here?”

And they can just send back “Yep, here's a new credit or “Yes, issue the credit because Bryan has a credit card here”.

So real simple. I'm going to tell you, given 30,000 retail locations, probably now, I think about 12,000 bank branches soon to be coming, people have gone through us and just never knew it.

[00:09:01] Bill Roth: So folks, if you're interested in this, definitely go to Intellicheck.com. There's a big “Get a Demo” button. Push that button, and if you want to find out more, that's the way to do it. So that's all the time we have today. My guest today on the Intellicheck podcast has been Intellicheck CEO Bryan Lewis, and we've been discussing how terrifyingly easy it is to steal an identity. Thanks, Bryan.

[00:09:25] Bryan Lewis: Thank you.

[00:09:26] Bill Roth: Be sure to check out the show notes in the description, where we'll have a list of some of the data and the articles mentioned in this episode. Thanks for listening and and we'll see you next time. And until then, stay safe out there.

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