 TITLE: How Does Identity Theft Happen? CONTENT: Synthetic Theft\n---------------\nSynthetic identity theft is the act of merging real and fake personal information to create a new identity. For example, a fraudster could use your Social Security number and blend it with a different person's name and address.\nIn addition to the other preventive measures we've discussed, one way to prevent synthetic identity theft is by using a service that offers dark web monitoring. Services like Experian IdentityWorksSM regularly check the dark web for your Social Security number, phone number and email address to make sure they're not being misused. END