Tag Archives: financial identity

Anyone Interested in Tax Fraud?

Anyone interested in tax fraud—a true financial identity challenge that is timely right about now?

authID recently shared a link to an Identity Week article on the topic, “Americans express concern about their personal data in tax fraud.” The article addressed findings from Allstate Identity Protection.

“40% of cases where Allstate restored identity protection were reported during the tax season.”

Granted that this is a skewed number, because tax season is 2 1/2 months long, and not all identity fraud during the period has to do with tax filings. But there does appear to be an uptick.

And Allstate isn’t the only organization providing an anti-fraud solution. The aforementioned authID has a solution of its own:

“Our multi-layered biometric authentication technology provides the security needed to protect sensitive financial transactions with one-in-one-billion false-match accuracy and lightning-fast processing speeds. Our innovative PrivacyKey™ technology eliminates biometric data storage risks, helping financial institutions implement robust identity safeguards during high-risk periods like tax season.”

(Hands holding 1040 form AI picture from Imagen 3)

Jobseekers and Know Your (Fill in the Blank)

I’ve noticed that my LinkedIn posts on jobseeking perform much better than my LinkedIn posts on the technical intricacies of multifactor identity verification.

But maybe I can achieve both mass appeal and niche engagement.

Private Equity Talent Hunt and Emma Emily

A year ago I reposted something on LinkedIn about a firm called Private Equity Talent Hunt (among other names). As Shelly Jones originally explained, their business model is to approach a jobseeker about an opportunity, ask for a copy of the jobseeker’s resume, and then spring the bad news that the resume is not “ATS friendly” but can be fixed…for a fee.

The repost has garnered over 20,000 impressions and over 200 comments—high numbers for me. 

It looks like a lot of people are encountering Jennifer Cona, Elizabeth Vardaman, Sarah Williams, Jessica Raymond, Emily Newman, Emma Emily (really), and who knows how many other recruiters…

…who say they work at Private Equity Talent Hunt, Private Equity Recruiting Firm, Private Equity Talent Seek, and who knows how many other firms.

If only there were a way to know if you’re communicating with a real person, at a real business.

Actually, there is.

Know Your Customer and Business

As financial institutions and other businesses have known for years, there are services such as “Know Your Customer” and “Know Your Business” that organizations can use. 

KYC and KYB let companies make sure they’re dealing with real people, and that the business is legitimate and not a front for another company—or for a drug cartel or terrorist organization.

So if a company is approached by Emma Emily at Private Equity Talent Hunt, what do they need to do?

The first step is to determine whether Emma Emily is a real person and not a synthetic identity. You can use a captured facial image, analyzed by liveness detection, coupled with a valid government ID, and possibly supported by home ownership information, utility bills, and other documentation.

If there is no Emma Emily, you can stop there.

But if Emma Emily is a real person, you can check her credentials. Where is she employed today? Where was she employed before? What are her post secondary degrees? What does her LinkedIn profile say? If her previous job was as a jewelry designer and her Oxford degree was in nuclear engineering, Emma Emily sounds risky.

And you can also check the business itself, such as Private Equity Talent Hunt. Check their website, business license, LinkedIn profile, and everything else about the firm.

But I’m not a business!

OK, I admit there’s an issue here.

There are over 100 businesses that provide identity verification services, and many of them provide KYC and KYB.

To other businesses.

Very few people purchase KYC and KYB per se for personal use.

So you have to improvise.

Ask Emma Emily some tough questions.

Ask her about the track record of her employer.

And if Emma Emily claims to be a recruiter for a well-known company like Amazon, ask for her corporate email address.

(Image from Microsoft Copilot)

Bredemarket’s Three (So Far) Industry Pillar Pages

Since I started creating (sort of) pillar pages in April 2022, I’ve built more, including three devoted to particular industries.

My “Banking Changes” Post Needs an Update

Back in July 2023, I wrote a post about financial remote onboarding which included a section entitled “Three changes in banking over the last fifty years.” The first change I addressed was locational change.

The first crack in the whole idea of “going to the bank” was the ability to bank without entering the door of the bank…and being able to bank on Sunday at midnight if you felt like it. Yes, I’m talking about Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), where the “teller,” instead of being a person, was a bunch of metal and a TV screen.

But when I was recently reading a Bluesky post from mclevin that stated (correctly) that the decline in tellers didn’t start with artificial intelligence, but automated teller machines, it occurred to me that even the once-revolutionary ATM is itself outdated in financial terms.

Think about it.

What are the two most important functions of an ATM?

  • To deposit paper checks.
  • To obtain physical cash.

I think you see where this is going.

While the ATM still fulfills these functions today, how often do we receive paper checks? And even if we do, why go to a distant ATM to deposit the check when you can often perform the same function using your mobile phone?

And how often do we use cash to pay for things? Often we use a card…or a mobile phone.

Door-to-door Scamming

This was shared on a private Facebook group. Looks REALLY scammy.

Here is what Spectrum says about scams:

“If you’re curious about the status of your account, you can always use the My Spectrum App or sign in to your Spectrum account to check the details. Those are safe and secure ways to connect to your account anytime and from anywhere.”

A3ML: When Regular AML is Not Good Enough

As some of you know, AML stands for Anti-Money Laundering. It ensures that money given to Johnny Angel doesn’t end up in the hands of Vladimir Putin. This impacts financial institutions:

“Banks had to follow government regulations (know your customer, anti-money laundering, know your business), even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.”

But AML goes far beyond banks because of its national security implications. Which means the military has to get involved.

Therefore DARPA has entered the picture, with its Program Announcement (posted on SAM as DARPA-SN-25-23) for something DARPA calls “Anticipatory and Adaptive Anti-Money Laundering,” or A3ML.

Uh, what? GovTribe explains:

“The program seeks to develop sophisticated algorithmic methods that can analyze financial transaction graphs and detect suspicious patterns more effectively than existing manual processes. This initiative represents a significant shift towards proactive and predictive financial crime detection methodologies.”

Of course, the introduction of the word “predictive” raises alarm bells, based upon activities outside of banking. At best, police potentially waste a lot of time investigating every single broken tail light. At worst, Muslim lawyer Brandon Mayfield becomes a suspect for a crime he didn’t commit.

Hopefully the people pursuing A3ML can minimize bias.

Why No BOI?

(Business terrorist image Imagen 3/Google Gemini)

I asked my good buddy Google Gemini to describe the court arguments against FinCEN beneficial ownership reporting (which as of this hour is on a court-mandated hold pending a possible Supreme Court stay). Two of the items identified by Gemini are Bill of Rights related.

“Some argue the reporting requirements force businesses to disclose information about their owners, which they consider a form of compelled speech. The First Amendment protects freedom of expression, and this argument suggests the government is overstepping its bounds.”

“Critics argue that the collection of beneficial ownership information constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. They contend that this collection is overly broad and lacks sufficient justification to meet the constitutional standard of reasonableness.”

Human sources, including Engage Wealth Advisors, mention these same concerns.

So the big boys are still subject to KYC, KYB, and AML regulations, while the little boys (sole proprietors) aren’t. The ones in the middle who would have been subject to the Corporate Transparency Act remain in a state of limbo.

Of course, if an anonymous entity claimed that BOI opponents are Putin lovers who want to hide terrorist activities, those same opponents would want to know who is saying that about them. What’s good for me isn’t good for thee…

Oh BOI Again, Subject to Change

On December 23, 2024, we learned that Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting WOULD be required, albeit later than originally planned.

The next day, December 24, I wrote a Bredemarket blog post about this.

Two days later, December 26, my December 24 blog post was already outdated. 

“On December 26, 2024, a different panel from the Fifth Circuit issued an order that vacated the court’s prior December 23 order granting a stay of the preliminary injunction. As a result, the injunction issued in Texas Top Cop Shop remains in effect nationwide and reporting companies are currently not required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN.”

The notice above was published on January 4.

Check back on January 6.

Title vs. Physical Possession of a Vehicle

(2002 Ford Excursion image public domain)

I’ve talked about non-person entities (NPEs) before, but usually about a computer, or a file (such as a top secret file).

What about sport utility vehicles (SUVs)? 

Or houses?

But I’m going to concentrate on sport utility vehicles here.

Because of their expense, certain NPEs such as vehicles and real estate are associated with title, or proof of ownership. 

Just because I have physical possession of a car or house doesn’t mean that I’m the lawful owner. Maybe I am house sitting. Or renting a car. Or I am a squatter or thief. When it comes to legal (and financial) title, possession is NOT 9/10ths of the law. Otherwise, Hilton and Hertz would be out of business.

Old anti-Richard Nixon ad.

But what happens when the physical NPE and the title diverge? Two victims of now-convicted car salesman Ronald Johnson found out the hard way, according to KTTN:

“In 2022, Johnson orchestrated a scheme that led to a Pennsylvania buyer paying $41,750 for a 2002 Ford Excursion that he had already sold to a South Dakota buyer for $45,000. The South Dakota buyer received the title, while the Pennsylvania buyer was given the SUV, leaving the latter unable to register the vehicle lawfully.”

But how do you verify that the title is real? For vehicles:

“The title should have a watermark, a raised seal, a unique vehicle identification number, a unique title number, and the owner’s information.”

And as for the owner, my regular readers know how to verify THAT.

Oh BOI

Beneficial Ownership Information alert. From Proskauer:

“On December 23, 2024, the Fifth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals (the “Fifth Circuit”) issued an order that has the effect of reinstituting the deadlines under the Corporate Transparency Act (the (“CTA”)….

“The CTA requires a range of entities, primarily smaller, otherwise unregulated companies, to file a report with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) identifying the entities’ beneficial owners—the persons who ultimately own or control the company—and provide similar identifying information about the persons who formed the entity.

“FinCEN has recognized that the timing of the order lifting the injunction may be particularly burdensome and has extended the reporting deadlines.  Accordingly, reporting companies created prior to January 1, 2024, that are not eligible for an exemption, are required to file beneficial ownership reports by January 13, 2025 (and not January 1, 2025).”