Unseen Money 16—synthetic identity fraud
Mon Jan 26 2026
In the latest episode of Unseen Money, Timur Yunusov helps Paul Amery unravel a strange real-life story involving a spoofed eBay delivery, Paul’s phone number and a photo of an Indian lady in a pink dressing gown.
The story is part of a rapidly growing form of crime involving so-called “synthetic” identities. In a synthetic identity fraud, criminals create fake online identities by blending real, stolen data with fabricated information. They then use those identities to conduct money laundering and fraud.
In the podcast, we cover:
(00’ 25”) How Paul got a DPD delivery notification for an eBay parcel he hadn't ordered
(1’ 20”) How DPD provided “proof of delivery” to a woman in a pink dressing gown
(2’ 45”) How eBay showed no interest in investigating the transaction
(3’ 15”) Why a synthetic identity combines real and fictitious information
(4’ 40”) How criminals use synthetic identities to decrease online friction
(6’ 40”) Possible use of synthetic IDs in buy now pay later (BNPL) fraud
(7’ 10”) Why synthetic identity frauds don’t fit the standard stolen identity playbook
(7’ 40”) Why synthetic ID cases deserve much greater scrutiny from anti-fraud teams
(11’ 30”) Identity theft (account takeover) and synthetic identities
(13’ 00”) Why synthetic identity fraud has boomed post-COVID
(21’ 40”) AI and machine learning have turbocharged synthetic identity fraud
(23’ 40”) Who’s buying the sets of synthetic IDs?
(24’ 30”) How criminals use synthetic identities in frauds
(29’ 30”) Dead souls, the Russia-Ukraine war and the exploitation of fake identity sets
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In the latest episode of Unseen Money, Timur Yunusov helps Paul Amery unravel a strange real-life story involving a spoofed eBay delivery, Paul’s phone number and a photo of an Indian lady in a pink dressing gown. The story is part of a rapidly growing form of crime involving so-called “synthetic” identities. In a synthetic identity fraud, criminals create fake online identities by blending real, stolen data with fabricated information. They then use those identities to conduct money laundering and fraud. In the podcast, we cover: (00’ 25”) How Paul got a DPD delivery notification for an eBay parcel he hadn't ordered (1’ 20”) How DPD provided “proof of delivery” to a woman in a pink dressing gown (2’ 45”) How eBay showed no interest in investigating the transaction (3’ 15”) Why a synthetic identity combines real and fictitious information (4’ 40”) How criminals use synthetic identities to decrease online friction (6’ 40”) Possible use of synthetic IDs in buy now pay later (BNPL) fraud (7’ 10”) Why synthetic identity frauds don’t fit the standard stolen identity playbook (7’ 40”) Why synthetic ID cases deserve much greater scrutiny from anti-fraud teams (11’ 30”) Identity theft (account takeover) and synthetic identities (13’ 00”) Why synthetic identity fraud has boomed post-COVID (21’ 40”) AI and machine learning have turbocharged synthetic identity fraud (23’ 40”) Who’s buying the sets of synthetic IDs? (24’ 30”) How criminals use synthetic identities in frauds (29’ 30”) Dead souls, the Russia-Ukraine war and the exploitation of fake identity sets