Sure, fake or stolen passports and (often preliminary) ID Cards from public offices exist and are traded on the darkweb but ID fraud is so rare it´s almost unheard of compared to the rampant fraud in the US

I think part of it is deregulation in the USA too. As has been mentioned it is sooo easy to sign up for credit cards because banks want citizens drowning in debt. When I lived there I got like 4 credit card applications in the mail per day; every store has its own credit/rewards card; every company has the same idea to extract as much wealth from citizens at the expense of their good health.

All of this fraud is an extension of that deregulation, which leaves people exposed. Frankly a slower moving economy is probably BETTER in the long run, but it’s all numbers and figures nowadays. People are reduced to an SSN number.

Nah. Here in Germany I can open a bank account in a matter of ten minutes online - for once, US-level deregulation is not the problem.