Ryan Hunter (Director of Identity & Fraud Strategy at Built Rewards) joins Eli to unpack how fraud is evolving fast — from synthetic identities to first-party scams and global fraud rings that operate like real businesses. They dig into why legacy ID systems keep failing, where the biggest vulnerabilities live today, and what it will take to actually shift the playing field.

Chapters

(00:00) Ryan’s path into fraud strategy

(05:53) How fraud evolved: fake IDs → synthetic → first-party

(10:21) Why SSNs are a broken identifier

(16:38) First-party fraud, credit washing, and detection gaps

(23:29) Fraud’s hidden cost to every consumer

(25:11) Review decisions: phishing, recovery, mule accounts

(29:47) Why fraud stays interesting + geopolitics of fraud rings

Key takeaways

• Fraud hits everyone through higher rates and product costs
• Synthetic + first-party fraud now outpace classic third-party fraud
• Weak national ID infrastructure still fuels modern attacks
• Mule accounts and phone takeovers are major failure points
• Fraud rings are organized, coordinated, and often state-level
• Stopping fraud would unlock huge UX gains across industries

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Ryan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanrussellhunter/

Eli's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliwachs/

Check out Footprint: www.onefootprint.com