US Patent 7458508 System and method for identity-based fraud detection

A method for identifying a fraudulent account application includes receiving a new account application comprising a plurality of identity-related fields and linking the identity-related fields associated with the new account application with identity-related fields associated with a plurality of historical account applications. The links form a graphical pattern on which statistical analysis can performed to determine the likelihood that the new account application is fraudulent. The statistical analysis can comprise comparing the graphical pattern to a known, or normal graphical pattern in order to detect differences, or anomalies occurring in the graphical pattern associated with the new account application.