Troubleshooting and FAQs

Preventing synthetic fraud requires validating that consumers really exist.
Younger demographics (under 18) often have thinner files and lower coverage, which results in fewer positive signals that an identity is real.
This is an area of active improvement in each new model release.

Synthetic models are not fully optimized when only the last 4 digits of a national ID are provided.
In these cases, the national ID is usually treated as not provided.
New features and modeling techniques are in development to increase accuracy and add intelligence for partial national ID inputs.

Synthetic identities in your portfolio can cause financial, operational, regulatory, and reputational harm.

• Financial loss prevention: Fraudsters often build synthetic identities over time, establishing credit and multiple accounts before “busting out.” Blocking them early prevents large downstream losses.
• Operational efficiency: Preventing synthetic identities reduces costly manual reviews and investigation overhead.
• Regulatory compliance: Regulators expect effective fraud controls. Weak defenses against synthetics increase compliance risk.
• Enhanced trust: Allowing synthetic identities erodes brand trust with consumers, partners, and investors. Strong prevention measures improve confidence across stakeholders.

The impact varies by model version and your population. Benchmark metrics are available in the Model Governance documentation via your Account Manager.

• Synthetic identities are typically fabricated from manipulated names, national IDs, and DOBs. Missing these fields has the largest impact.
• If a nine-digit national ID is unavailable, you can be configured with an alternative model flavor optimized for that scenario.
• Missing other PII (e.g., phone, email, address) also reduces accuracy but to a smaller degree.

👉 Missing PII generally increases scores, raising false positives.

Synthetic identities often rely on fake or mismatched Core PII (name, DOB, national ID).

Without a national ID, detection relies on whether the name + DOB combination is realistic.

• Contact channels (address, phone) help constrain the search space and reveal links to other synthetic identities.
• Manipulated DOBs (e.g., minors “upaging”) can be flagged even without national ID.

These checks increase detection confidence when national IDs are absent.

Manipulated synthetics often alter only the SSN, while other PII remains valid.

This allows them to bypass document verification. Stepping them up to eCBSV ensures the SSN is validated against SSA records.

Fabricated identities should not have a legitimate ID document.

• Document Verification prompts fraudsters to abandon the process (drop-off).
• If attempted, fabricated IDs are flagged by Socure Predictive DocV.

Some risk signals are evaluated independently and may surface specific concerns even when the overall risk score is lower. This helps ensure that clear indicators of synthetic behavior are not overlooked.

Not all high-risk cases surface the same supporting signals. In some cases, overall risk may be elevated without triggering specific reason codes.

Customers should define escalation strategies based on their overall risk tolerance and downstream verification approach.