Synthetic identity fraud risks on the rise in PHL as digitalization continues

By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter

PHILIPPINE organizations must strengthen their identity verification processes as the proliferation of synthetic accounts could increase cases of digital fraud, according to iProov.

“We strongly believe that the amount of synthetic fraud out there is vastly underestimated. For 2026, the scale of this will start to become understood,” iProov Chief Technology Officer Dominic Forrest said in a video interview with BusinessWorld.

Synthetic identity fraud refers to the use of fabricated information and credentials to create a fake persona.

This is mostly done by organized crime groups and nation-state actors, supporting both small- and large-scale scams, Mr. Forrest said.

The Philippines’ digital-first economy also creates a large surface attack for criminals using synthetic accounts, he added, with these attackers likely to target weak points like account recovery, password reset, and app installation on new devices.

The rise of remote work also increases the risk of synthetic account fraud, especially if the identity of a user is not verified.

“It’s perfectly possible for one person to do the interviews, get a job, and then assign somebody else to commit a crime,” Mr. Forrest said.

The country’s critical information infrastructure, namely water, power, and telecommunications, are also vulnerable to account takeovers and may cause major outages, he said.

To boost their safeguards, companies, especially in industries like finance and utilities, must do quarterly or monthly biometric checks to confirm the identity behind user accounts.

Financial institutions should also ensure that their facial biometrics have strong liveness detection for high-risk situations, such as new devices, account recovery, and high-value transfers, Mr. Forrest said.

“If you can tie it to a human being who you can prove exists, then the synthetic account cannot exist in the first place.”

With organizations seeking science-based biometrics to verify their user base, iProov is optimistic about its growth prospects, he said.

“What will drive growth is the growing understanding of the criticality of ensuring identity, and that will come either from organizations or industries doing this themselves or are being mandated to do so by the government.”

He cited as an example UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc., which integrated iProov’s science-based biometric technology last year. This system can distinguish between real and synthetic identities through express liveness and dynamic liveness tests.

More than 60% of Filipino adults experience financial scams yearly, with individuals losing an estimated P12,000 to fraudulent activity, the Global Anti-Scam Alliance said in its State of Scams in the Philippines 2025 Report.