Understanding fraud against lenders: Key types and how data can help financial crime

Given the UK’s status as a major global financial hub, it is no surprise that UK lenders are a major target for fraudsters. With fraud costing the British economy billions of pounds annually and only increasing as the cost of living continues to rise, it is essential to understand how data can be utilised to help combat fraud for UK lenders.

Let’s first start by examining 10 of the most common types of fraud seen across lenders in the UK:

Identity Theft/Fraud: This occurs when someone uses another person’s identity, such as their name, date of birth, or address, to obtain a loan or credit without their knowledge.

Income Fraud: This type of fraud involves providing false or inaccurate income information to obtain a loan or credit.

Mortgage Fraud: This type of fraud involves misrepresenting the value of the property being used to secure the loan or credit.

Mortgage Misrepresentation: This type of fraud involves providing false or inaccurate information about the mortgage that is being used to secure the loan or credit.

Fraudulent Credit Applications: This type of fraud involves providing false or inaccurate information on a loan or credit application, such as a false name or address.

Loan Fraud: This type of fraud involves providing false or inaccurate information to obtain a loan or credit.

Credit Card Fraud: This type of fraud involves using a stolen or counterfeit credit card to make purchases or transfer funds.

Bank Fraud: This type of fraud involves using a stolen or counterfeit debit or credit card to make purchases or transfer funds.

Money Laundering: This type of fraud involves transferring or “laundering” funds obtained through illegal activities, such as drug trafficking, to conceal their origin.

Loan Stacking: This involves taking out numerous loans from different lenders, often with different names, and then defaulting on them. This can be particularly damaging, as the fraudster can leave the victim with a poor credit score and a large amount of debt.

How can using data help?

As digital banking and technological advances become more widespread, fraudulent activities have become more complex and difficult to identify. Fortunately, lenders can tap into a range of reliable data sources to help safeguard themselves and their customers. Synaologik’s data can be used to assist Collections, Asset Reunification, Underwriting, and Fincrime teams in a multitude of ways. For instance, our data can provide detailed information on customers, allowing teams to target their efforts more accurately. For example, Credit Application data can be used to explore an individual’s financial profile to identify potential risks of them not paying back a loan or Pii data to acquire missing contact information, such as new phone numbers and addresses, for collections purposes.

Data-driven analytics can be used to detect and prevent fraud. By analysing customer information, including transactional data, credit scores, and identification information, lenders can identify risks and suspicious behaviour and flag them for further investigation. For example, a lender may analyse unusually large transactions or frequent changes to a customer’s address or bank account.

By tracking customer activities across multiple data sources, lenders can identify any anomalies and take action to stop fraud in its tracks. For instance, a lender may be alerted to a customer making multiple payments from different accounts or making suspicious purchases from multiple locations.

Additionally, lenders can identify any discrepancies in their portfolios, enabling them to take the necessary steps to reunify assets and remediate any issues they have identified. This allows lenders to reduce their overall risk while improving their financial position.

Finally, with access to data, understanding customer behaviour and identifying trends, teams can better understand the external environment helping them to adjust their strategies to optimise their processes, remain compliant, and guard against potential fraud.

About Synalogik

Synalogik deliver innovative solutions that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of compliance and fraud investigations through innovative software and unparalleled access to consumer and business data. Our flagship product is our data aggregation and automation platform Scout® which is unique in its capability to aggregate data from Synalogik, open, closed, third party and proprietary sources, allowing investigators and analysts to automate complex enhanced due diligence and fraud investigations. In addition to our third-party integrations, Synalogik offer a comprehensive package of our own data, including loan application and lists of disposable emails and telephone numbers; organisations benefit from greater insight, speed of deployment, and the ability to meet compliance needs and protect themselves from fraudulent actors more cost-effectively.

In 2022, we secured a Series A investment from Bill Currie and former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy and, among other awards, the Queen’s Award for Innovation. Our current customers include Hasting Direct, The Insolvency Service, Entain, Betway, Buzz Bingo, AIG and Marble Arch Insurance.