Socure, an identity verification and risk decisioning company, has released new research detailing how disaster relief efforts following the July 2025 floods in Central Texas were heavily targeted by organised fraud networks.
The newly released report, titled Exploiting Disaster: Identity Fraud Spikes After Texas Floods, examines fraud activity before and after the July 4 Kerr County floods. The analysis reveals how both domestic and international fraud rings rapidly mobilised, using pre-built “identity farms”, proxy networks, and synthetic identities to target disaster assistance programmes designed to help flood survivors.
According to the findings, nearly 29% of observed fraud attempts focused on stealing government assistance funds. Fraudsters timed their attacks to coincide with news coverage and official announcements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA), with activity surging within hours of public communications.
The report also highlights how fraud patterns evolved rapidly. Local actors dominated early attacks, but international networks scaled quickly, with activity traced to China, Morocco, and other regions, including OFAC-sanctioned jurisdictions. Around 30% of international fraud attempts were linked to long-running Chinese identity farms that have been generating stolen and synthetic identities for years.
Within 72 hours of the floods, fraudulent applications for government aid spiked sharply. Kerr County residents were found to be 3.5 times more likely to be targeted for identity fraud after the disaster than before.
Mike Cook, head of fraud insights at Socure said, “This research shows that fraudsters don’t wait for recovery efforts to begin—they activate immediately. Sophisticated fraud rings lie in wait with pre-built fake identities, ready to exploit moments of crisis – waiting for an early weather report, for example – ready to hit. As a former Texas flood survivor myself, I hope this research helps agencies and organizations better protect relief funds when speed and accuracy matter most.”
Rivka Gewirtz Little, chief growth officer at Socure said, “These fraud surges offer a clear view into the broader scam economy.
“When fraud syndicates go after disaster aid, they deliberately strike across sectors—establishing money movement and financial services accounts to build scam infrastructure, then hit giving services to capture relief funds. We need a view of identity that spans the entire ecosystem. Our identity graph provides government agencies and financial institutions with the real-time intelligence required to stop fraud at scale and ensure aid reaches the people who truly need it.”
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