Stop Synthetic Identity Fraud & Fake Account Creation
Fintech platforms are prime targets for synthetic identity bots that pass KYC then drain accounts. Sentinel detects fraud at the device layer — before identity verification even begins.
What Fintech platforms face in 2026
Synthetic identity bots passing KYC
AI-powered bots submit fake identity documents and pass automated KYC checks. By the time fraud ops investigates, ACH transfers have already cleared.
Fake account farming for bonus abuse
Attackers use antidetect browsers and residential proxies to create hundreds of accounts, claim signup bonuses, and cash out — each account appearing as a unique legitimate user.
Account takeover via credential stuffing
Bots using rotating residential proxies test millions of leaked credential combinations against login forms — invisible to IP-rate-limiting defenses.
Money mule account networks
Coordinated fake accounts that look unrelated are actually linked through device fingerprints. Traditional fraud tools miss the connection; Sentinel surfaces it.
What Sentinel does for you
- Detect automation and bot signals before KYC submission
- Identify antidetect browsers used to spoof device identity
- Stop credential stuffing without blocking legitimate login attempts
- Link fake account networks by device fingerprint across different IPs
- Score sessions in under 40ms — fast enough for any real-time decisioning flow
Where Sentinel fits alongside identity verification
Sentinel is not an identity verification provider — it's the fraud-prevention layer that sits in front of one. Fintechs and financial institutions typically pay their identity verification API per check: document verification, biometric liveness detection, database lookups. When bots and synthetic identities flood customer onboarding, you pay full price to verify applicants that were never real. Sentinel risk-scores every signup in real time — under 40ms — before the expensive verification step, so automated fraud never reaches your KYC flow. Genuine applicants sail through automated identity verification, manual reviews shrink, and regulatory compliance gets easier because synthetic identities are filtered at the front door.
reduction in fake account fraud at a fintech — $180K/month loss cut to near zero
[ Read Full Case Study ]Where the check goes
The highest-value call sites: onboarding start (before KYC spend — every synthetic applicant you screen out saves a verification fee) and login (where account takeover happens). Many teams also re-evaluate at sensitive actions like payout changes and beneficiary additions.
// Screen applicants before paying for KYC verification
const res = await fetch('https://sntlhq.com/v1/evaluate', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + process.env.SENTINEL_KEY,
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
},
body: JSON.stringify({ token: req.body.sentinel_token })
});
const risk = await res.json();
if (risk.decision === 'block') return res.status(403).json({ error: 'Application declined' });
if (risk.decision === 'review') flagForReview(risk.reasons);The signals that matter for fintech
Anonymizers at onboarding are not the same as anonymizers at login. A privacy-conscious customer logging in over a VPN is normal. A brand-new applicant starting KYC behind a residential proxy is a review-tier event — proxy-masked onboarding is the front door of synthetic identity fraud. Sentinel returns the raw signals so your policy can treat those two moments differently.
Devices expose synthetic identities. Fabricated identities pass document checks precisely because the documents are consistent. What isn't consistent: the same hardware opening accounts for six "different people". The cross-account device graph catches what the KYC vendor structurally cannot.
Session integrity against account takeover. Device-bound session signals plus re-evaluation at sensitive actions mean a stolen session cookie stops being enough — the attacker's device doesn't match the session's history, and the risk score reflects it in real time.
An audit trail your compliance team can use. Every verdict comes with its reasons — the flags that fired and the score they produced — so blocked applications and step-up decisions are explainable in reviews rather than "the model said so".
Common questions
Start protecting your fintech platform
Free tier. 1,000 API requests per hour. No credit card. Detects residential proxies, antidetect browsers, and AI bots.