As announced this fall, the Federal Reserve convened a focus group of 12 fraud experts to create an industry-recommended definition of synthetic identity fraud. This initiative follows publication of the Federal Reserve’s white paper series on synthetic identity fraud, which includes insights on how differing definitions of synthetic identity fraud make it difficult to quantify the impact of this type of fraud in the United States.
The focus group met in October and November to begin collaboration on creating a synthetic identity fraud definition and suggested approaches for voluntary industry adoption. Additional focus group discussions are planned for the first part of next year.
“The goal of our focus group is to develop a comprehensive, yet clear definition that can help the industry distinguish synthetic identity fraud from other fraud types,” said Mike Timoney, vice president for secure payments with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. “We are on track to publish a recommended definition in early 2021.”