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Comment by willhinsa | Hacker News Reader

That is one way to be able to solve the problem, but the most direct way to solve the problem of credit scams is to put the onus on the bank who opened up the account incorrectly to assume responsibility for the debt, not on the person whose details were spoofed to create the account.

This is quite humorously illustrated by a "That Mitchell and Webb Sound" skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9ptA3Ya9E

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Completely agree with this. Credit freezes don't work because credit reporting agencies have never been in the business of identity verification or protection. Whoever grants the line of credit should be doing the due diligence on whether the right person is in front of them or not, but they would rather pad their numbers and shift blame to someone else.

> but the most direct way to solve the problem of credit scams is to put the onus on the bank who opened up the account incorrectly to assume responsibility for the debt, not on the person whose details were spoofed to create the account.

This. "Identity theft" shouldn't be a term. There's already a term for what's happening, it's called fraud, and it's perpetrated on the banks without involving the person whose identity was "stolen." Consumers shouldn't have to deal with the fallout from banks' fuckups, especially given the resources banks have available to avoid said fuckups.

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