4 Behavioral Red Flags of Synthetic Fraud Applications

New account and loan fraud is on the rise across the globe and BioCatch this week believes that is in large part due to synthetic identity fraud, which is rendering static identity proofing useless in the application process.

BioCatch has unveiled several red flags that they have uncovered that lenders and banks can use to determine if an application is more or less likely to be fraud – and it has everything to do with how the fraudster fills out the application online.

There are 4 red flags that they highlight and their approach to finding this is unique.  They track the way that an applicant interacts with the online web page – the way fields are filled out, how quickly a form is filled out and how the mouse movements are made.

#1 – Fraudsters Committing Synthetic Identity Fraud Are Too Familiar With the Process

Fraudster exhibit a high degree of application fluency – They repeatedly use compromised or synthetic identities and demonstrate a high level of familiarity with the new account opening process.

#2 – Fraudsters Exhibit More Advanced Application Filling Techniques Than Normal Applicants

Fraudsters are expert users.  Cybercriminals regularly use keyboard shortcuts and function keys that are rarely used by real users. Advanced computer skills are a sign of a fraudster at work.

#3 – Fraudsters Don’t Know The Data

Fraudsters exhibit low data familiarity.  When cybercriminals enter stolen personal information, they are far more likely to cut and paste data that would be intuitive for a legitimate user to enter manually.

#4 – Fraudsters Use Bots, Normal Applicants do not

Machine and bot activity: Behavior-based solutions can spot criminal behaviors in the application flow, even if the access is from a new device or IP. Automated attacks also demonstrate unique behavior patterns that can be used as a distinguishing mark.