The number of fraudulent financial applications in the names of rookie athletes has risen dramatically since 2020.
Stacked bar chart shows the rise of fraudulent applications using the identities of players on NBA and NFL draft lists. There were only 2 total fraudulent applications observed with these identities in 2020, but sharply increased between 2022 and 2023, from 35 total to 96 total fraudulent applications. NFL draft picks are victims more often than NBA players, they accounted for more than 80% of noted fraud cases each year since 2021.