Synthetic identities leave US lenders with $2.4 billion in fraud exposure

US lenders had an estimated $2.4 billion in exposure to synthetic identity fraud at the end of June 2026, with auto lending accounting for $1.5 billion, according to TransUnion’s Fraud in the Age of Continuous Trust report. The report said 81% of suspected digital fraud in its network during the first half of 2026 occurred during account logins and financial transactions, and that criminals use exposed personal information and AI to build synthetic identities that pass onboarding checks and are then used across multiple services.