Inside a Synthetic Identity Fraud Attempt—And How Verify Stops It

Picture this: Maria Trustwell’s information was leaked in a recent data breach. She has no idea, but somewhere across the world, Ivan Darkov does. Ivan is a cybercriminal operating from Russia, and Maria’s compromised data is all Ivan needs to launch an attack.

Ivan has his sights on your company. He needs to open an account, and he knows exactly what steps to take. For example, he may tunnel through a VPN to appear to be in New York, where your company is based, use a Google Voice Phone (VoIP type) to pass phone validations, or use an email that he controls, paired with the rest of Maria’s stolen credentials, to slip through.

Once Ivan gets in, the playbook is familiar. He builds credibility with the account until he’s ready to strike through money laundering or bust-out fraud before disappearing and leaving your business with the losses.

Where most identity verification solutions go wrong

Discerning between legitimate customers and bad actors is a challenge fintechs, banks, credit unions, platforms and more face every day, and it’s compounded by three big weaknesses in how organizations approach verification:

1. Static data. Many systems still rely on static data, rule-based checks, or siloed risk assessments. Others lean on credit bureau data or government IDs, which are often outdated, incomplete, and no match for someone like Ivan.
2. Fragmented tools. Many companies stack multiple identity solutions across the customer journey to cover a variety of different checks. It’s an extremely costly approach, and one that is more complex.
3. More vendors can mean more fraud. Adding more tools doesn’t mean stronger defenses. It can create silos and inconsistent risk scoring that lead to false negatives that let bad actors in, false positives that frustrate real customers, and headaches for fraud management teams.

How can companies fight identity fraud without piling on tools and costs?

Verify, Fideo’s identity verification tool, flips the traditional cost model with a comprehensive risk score delivered via a single flat-rate API call that includes eight categories of checks, all pre-KYC. Those checks include synthetic identity detection and identity graph validation, email risk modeling, phone risk analysis, IP address checks, digital footprint analysis, location anomaly detection, and breach exposure analysis.

Here’s what that means: The market value of running all 8 categories of checks individually adds up to $1.14. Verify bundles all checks for less than half of that cost.

Instead of overpaying for just a few checks—or worse, getting nickeled and dimed by separate vendors for each check—companies get it all for one flat rate per user session with unlimited verification calls. That means no more costly point solutions.

Here’s what would happen if Ivan were to try his attack, step by step:

• First, Ivan enters Maria’s stolen email: Verify flags it as recently breached, triggering a high-risk alert.
• Then Ivan hides behind a Tor network IP: It’s instantly blocked.
• Next, he uses a Google Voice Phone (VoIP type) to appear local: Verify flags it.
• He switches to a personal Gmail account: Flagged again due to his connection to Russia and an abnormal digital footprint.

No matter what tactic Ivan tries, it gets flagged as high risk. On the businesses end, Verify compiles every signal into one risk score based on all eight packages, covering more than 40 checks. The result? Ivan never makes it through onboarding. And the business isn’t spending valuable KYC budget on verifying an identity that should have never made it that far in the first place. With the average KYC cost at $4.36, that adds up fast.

Put Verify to the test

We have a free trial that lets you test Verify for yourself. You can run identity checks instantly, with no integration, compliance review, or procurement approval required. Just log in and start testing with 100 free API calls. Think of it as a guided sandbox where you can explore the solution without technical setup.

An easy way to start is to look yourself up. See if your information has been compromised, or test what happens when you mix legitimate details with fake ones. You’ll get a risk score broken out by category, with reasoning on why each check was flagged as low, medium, or high risk.

You can also use the API to test in bulk. Or, if you’re ready to see Verify in a production environment, our team can quickly help you set up a proof of concept.

Stop choosing between risk and cost

Once you test Verify, you’ll probably wonder why you’re paying so much to get just a handful of checks, or why you’re stacking dozens of solutions in an attempt to cover every angle. Either way, the math doesn’t add up: higher costs and more identity fraud.

Verify changes that. One comprehensive risk score, one flat rate per user session and unlimited checks for stronger protection to keep bad actors like Ivan out.

Ready to test it out?

Watch the demo below and sign up for your free trial today.