Guides
Fraud & AI guides
Account-opening fraud has changed. Generative AI makes it cheap to edit ID photos, create convincing fake faces and replay video of a real person. In November 2024, FinCEN warned financial institutions about deepfake media used to get around identity checks (Alert FIN-2024-Alert004). Synthetic identities, which mix real and made-up details, let fraudsters build a credit history before they cash out.
These guides explain how each scheme works, the red flags to watch for, and the checks that catch them, such as liveness detection and matching a live selfie to the ID photo.
How modern identity fraud works
- Synthetic identity fraud. How fake identities are built from real and invented details, and the warning signs.
- 9 deepfake red flags at account opening. The red flags FinCEN lists in its deepfake alert.
- What is liveness detection? How a live check tells a real person from a photo, screen or recording.
- Document fraud detection. How to spot a fake or altered ID.
- What DD means on a driver’s license. The document discriminator and how it’s used to check a license.
All guides in this topic
You can’t touch or tilt an ID in a remote flow. Here’s what a photo can and can’t show, seven checks that help you spot a fake, and what to do when one looks off.
Liveness detection confirms a selfie comes from a live person, not a photo, mask or deepfake. Here’s how it works, how it’s attacked and how it’s tested.
DD stands for document discriminator, the number for the specific card you hold. Here’s where to find it, whether it changes and how it differs from your license number.
FinCEN’s deepfake alert lists nine red flags for AI-generated IDs, faces and video. Here’s what each one means and how to catch deepfake fraud at onboarding.
Synthetic identity fraud blends real and fake details into a person who doesn’t exist. Learn how it works, the red flags, and how to stop it.
Put the checks into practice
Verify customers with a government ID, a live selfie and sanctions screening on their own phone. Try it with 20 free verifications over 7 days. No card required.
