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

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

- By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz Reporter

“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 Business World.

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 smalland 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.