Equifax Canada Launches Synthetic Identity Score to Help Protect Businesses from the Hidden Threat of Synthetic Identity Fraud

Product Release (April 27, 2026 Toronto, ON)—Synthetic Identity Score is the latest fraud prevention solution from Equifax Canada designed to help protect businesses.

Synthetic identity fraud occurs when a fraudster blends real and fictitious identity components to create a new identity. Typically, fraudsters nurture these identities for months or even years—taking actions like opening credit cards and paying them off—so they look legitimate to lenders and credit reporting agencies. Synthetic Identity Score leverages proprietary cross-industry data to analyze the likelihood that an identity is real or fabricated. This allows organizations to prioritize authentic customers while halting the synthetic identity fraud lifecycle before it impacts their business.

“A traditional credit score measures intent or how likely a person is to pay an organization back,” explains Carl Davies, Head of Fraud & Identity at Equifax Canada. ”What Synthetic Identity Score does is help verify identity and whether a person is real in the first place.” 
Once a fraudster establishes an acceptable credit history, they max out credit limits, leaving the lender with significant financial losses. 

Using advanced machine-learning algorithms, Synthetic Identity Score detects suspicious behaviours and patterns indicative of synthetic identity fraud. These factors are combined to provide a score from 1 to 999 that assesses the likelihood that an identity is synthetic.

“Synthetic Identity Score is designed to look beyond the credit score and analyze behavioural patterns that are not typically visible to organizations,” says Davies.

Successfully protecting businesses from fraud requires a multi-layered approach. Synthetic Identity Score is a part of an integrated suite of identity verification, authentication, and fraud detection solutions from Equifax Canada. Equifax proprietary and differentiated data helps businesses make smarter decisions that can minimize fraud losses before they hit an organization’s bottom line.