In the aftermath of the most damaging and widespread fraud event in our history, this would be an exceptionally bad time to tie government agencies’ hands in protecting citizens and preventing fraud. But unfortunately, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is contemplating a new proposed rule to do just that.
Fraud has become increasingly sophisticated, with fraud actors making use of a variety of high-tech, AI-enabled tools to monetize stolen identities — obtained readily on deep and dark web forums and replenished daily by large-scale data breaches. One of the only tools agencies have available to combat this threat is reliable data on the legitimate identity of an applicant.