The digital age has brought about numerous advancements and conveniences, but it has also given rise to a significant concern – identity theft. Among the various types of identity fraud, synthetic identity fraud is proving to be notoriously difficult to prevent and detect. In fact, global digital fraud increased by 132% in 2022, highlighting the urgent need for effective prevention strategies. Synthetic identity fraud involves the creation of fake identities by combining real and fabricated information, which can be used to carry out fraudulent activities. To combat this growing issue, there are five key ways that organizations can implement to prevent synthetic identity fraud and protect their customers and clients. By encouraging unique passwords, improving the onboarding process, integrating user authentication, monitoring suspicious behavior, and analyzing digital footprints, businesses can strengthen their cybersecurity efforts and mitigate the risk of synthetic identity fraud. In this article, we will explore these preventive measures in more detail and introduce ONPASSIVE’s latest tool, OVERIFY, designed to enhance identity verification processes and safeguard against synthetic identity fraud. The digital revolution has given the world a lot of ease and efficiency regarding their personal or professional lives. However, cybersecurity has also become one of the vital services due to all the online operations. Identity theft is increasing day by day, giving rise to the threat of synthetic identity fraud.
Synthetic identity fraud is one of the most difficult to prevent or identify. According to a study, in 2022, global digital fraud amounted to 5.3%, 132% more than the previous year. Volumes of data breaches are increasing, and several companies are trying their best to curb the issues causing the fraud.
What is Synthetic Identity?
Fraudsters use synthetic identities by combining a few legitimate pieces of information about a person to form a fake identity. They combine sensitive information like the person’s contact details, government identity proof number, etc., with fabricated data. The fraudsters can use such an identity for bank verification checks to bankrupt the person.
Synthetic identities are usually of three types:
Blended
This is when a fraudster combines the actual information of a person from multiple sources to make one complete identity.
Manipulated
This kind of synthetic identity combines the real documents of a person with fake and make-up data.
Manufactured
This one is entirely fake and manufactured by the fraudster without accurate information about the person. For instance, a manufactured document could be an Aadhaar card number randomized by the fraudster to fall within the right range to be considered authentic.
Top 5 Ways to Prevent Synthetic Identity Fraud
- Motivate customers to create unique passwords
One of the most common ways to keep online threats at bay is to create complex passwords for everything online. It is best if the organizations encourage their clients to create passwords that are hard to guess. It is also essential to change your passwords on a regular basis. Additionally, avoid using the same passwords for all your online data.
- Improve onboarding process
Organizations have made a smooth transition from offline to online processes. Therefore, it is necessary to understand all the issues related to synthetic fraud activities and how to stop them. It is crucial to review and optimize the onboarding process of your client, especially if it is a finance company. Proof of identity and KYC (Know Your Customer) documents must be adequately scrutinized.
- Integrate user authentication
Organizations must use a layered fraud mitigation approach incorporating manual and technological data analysis. It is essential to improve fraud detection by acquiring a more integrated tech stack that identifies the fraud before any loss occurs. Using several tools creates multiple dashboards and reports, which results in very little chance for any fraudster to steal data.
- Beware of suspicious behavior
Organizations must watch their customers’ online activities that could raise any concerns. Such suspicious activities can be a way to expose a potential scammer. For instance, if a person with having a good credit score starts an activity to impact their score suddenly, it is vital to report that activity or check on the customer.
- Analyze digital footprints
One of the ways to identify suspicious activities is to follow its digital footprint trial. They can look into their email, online information, or social media to verify that the information provided by the customer is valid. There are several anti-fraud software that helps in scanning different websites and help you analyze digital footprints. This is convenient and easy to identify synthetic identity fraud to nip in the bud.
OVERIFY Helps Prevent Synthetic Identity Fraud
Securing customer onboarding solutions in businesses is essential, especially because we live in a digital world. ONPASSIVE is aware of all the demands of digitization, which is why it has launched its latest KYC tool, OVERIFY.
OVERIFY is a smart way to prevent synthetic identity fraud by making your customer onboarding process secure and strong. Its amazing OCR technology extracts the data from the documents and verifies it. It helps detect any kind of forgery or fraud by analyzing the facial biometrics of a person. OVERIFY is the best tool for any organization regarding identity verification operations.
Final Thoughts
Synthetic identity frauds are on the rise, and organizations must take additional measures to prevent it from happening. It is better to implement preventive measures early at your company to safeguard the security of your clients and customers. The top ways to prevent synthetic identity fraud above can help businesses curb this fraud.
Improve your cybersecurity and consult the professionals in the field. With ONPASSIVE’s OVERIFY in the industry, securing your organization from such unwanted fraud will be easier.
Visit www.onpassive.com for more information about OVERIFY and other AI-Powered solutions.