January 23, 2023

What do Victoria Hoffman, Kay Weston, Angela Phinlay, and Rose Loomis have in common? They are all fictitious Hollywood characters played by Norma Mortenson. Not sure who Norma Mortenson is? She was better known as Marilyn Monroe.

Not all people who act out the role of another get to be famous, nor do they want to be. When it comes to life insurance, hiding one’s true identity when applying for coverage is a lucrative business so anonymity is important. Some of our actors steal the identity of another person and then play that person when applying for insurance. Other actors simply create a new, hybrid or synthetic identity when applying for insurance. The results are nearly the same – a minimal investment to purchase a life insurance policy wagering on the life of another with a large payout after just a few years. Thefts utilizing synthetic identities alone costs billions each year.

Nearly all systemic fraudulent attempts to purchase life insurance involves imposters wagering on the life of another who may or may not be a real person. Understanding how actors perpetrate their fraudulent and staged performances as insureds, along with utilizing the proper tools to detect such schemes, is key to stopping the attempted fraud before policies get issued. There are multiple techniques used to create these wagering contracts, and they typically involve either identity theft, the creation of a synthetic or hybrid Identity.