These purported businessmen had opened multiple bank accounts under different fake names, using counterfeit immigrant visas, claiming to be from places like Germany and Austria and listing Houston motels for their home addresses, authorities said. But the one thing that they couldn't fake eventually did them in: their faces.Con-men often have multiple ID's issued by various jurisdictions. One ID will represent each criminal persona (usually a stolen identity) and the con-man will have his true identity, which he will attempt to keep clean. But in order for this to work, the criminal needs to be able to get their real photo onto each ID and (if possible) have it issued from a legitimate authority.
Enter facial recognition. Facial Recognition offers the ability to combat this type of fraud by making the photo of the face a search term in a database search. If you enter the face and get six records returned, you're on to something. The type of system and investigative process described in the Houston Chronicle article not only protects consumers from the types of fraud described in the article; it can also help victims of identity theft regain some control over how their personal details are used.
