Synthetic identity fraud isn’t just another fraud trend – it’s become the fastest-growing financial crime in the U.S. Criminals are no longer relying on stolen credit cards or hacked logins. Instead, they’re piecing together fake identities from fragments of real and fabricated data. By 2025, this tactic is draining billions from financial institutions, and legacy fraud systems simply can’t keep up.

Why Traditional Tools Fail

Most fraud systems were designed to flag suspicious activity tied to known identities. They focus on verifying addresses, matching Social Security numbers, and checking credit history. But synthetic identities slip through these cracks. Why?

• They’re built with valid data points like real SSNs.
• They accumulate credit history over time, looking legitimate.
• They pass manual reviews because nothing about them looks “impossible.”

This makes synthetic fraud both invisible and devastating – it can take years for financial institutions to detect, and by then, the losses are unrecoverable.

The Shift to Real-Time Intelligence

To combat this, credit unions and banks need technology that moves beyond static data checks. That’s where AI-driven systems like RembrandtAi® step in:

• Instant transaction risk scoring: Preventing synthetic fraud requires technology that doesn’t just check if data looks correct, but determines whether a transaction or account creation is consistent with legitimate financial activity.
  
• Cross-institution learning: Fraudsters reuse their synthetic identities across multiple banks. AI enables the detection of these patterns that a single institution’s system might miss.
  
• Machine learning at scale: The system continuously refines its models using live data, adapting as fraud tactics evolve.

Why 2025 is the Turning Point

Synthetic fraud has become the go-to attack for organized crime because it scales easily with digital banking and instant payments. With the arrival of FedNow, criminals no longer need to wait days to move stolen funds – they can vanish with cash in seconds. Without real-time fraud detection, institutions risk hemorrhaging money and losing member trust.

The Real-Time Solution

Synthetic identity fraud is no longer something financial institutions can treat as an edge case. It’s mainstream fraud, and it requires next-generation defenses. With RembrandtAi®, credit unions and banks finally have a tool capable of detecting and stopping synthetic fraud in real time – before the damage is done.