I recently returned from speaking at the 2025 MoneyLIVE Summit and Transform Finance events in London, and the urgency surrounding AI-driven fraud has never been clearer.
Over the past three years, deepfake fraud attempts have surged by an astonishing 2,137%, according to research from Signicat, an IDVerse partner.
Let that sink in.
The rise of deepfake technology and generative AI (GenAI) has completely transformed the fraud landscape. What was once a niche concern has become one of the fastest-growing threats facing financial institutions today. And the problem is only getting worse.
- The share of AI-powered fraud nearly doubled in just one year, jumping from 18% in 2023 to 34% in 2024.
- Fraud rings now have access to 110+ online marketplaces selling deepfake and synthetic ID services for just a few dollars.
- Humans are struggling to detect the deception—research shows people can only identify deepfake videos with 58% accuracy, barely better than random guessing.
If your fraud detection methods haven’t evolved to meet this challenge, you’re already behind.
The new fraud economy: How GenAI has changed the game
Financial fraud isn’t just evolving—it’s accelerating. Criminals are now using AI at every stage of the fraud lifecycle, from data theft to identity spoofing.
Here’s how the modern fraud economy operates:
- Fraud-as-a-Service (FaaS) is making synthetic identity creation easy.
- Online tools allow fraudsters to generate high-quality fake IDs, deepfake faces, and manipulated documents in seconds.
- Real identities are being combined with AI-generated forgeries.
- Fraud rings are using stolen personal data with deepfake photos and synthetic documents to bypass KYC systems.
- Traditional fraud detection is struggling to keep up.
- Database checks and manual reviews are no match for fraudsters using AI-generated identities that appear completely legitimate.
Why AI-powered defenses are the only answer
Fraudsters are already using AI—so the only way to fight back is to use AI that’s more advanced, more adaptive, and built responsibly.
At IDVerse, we use bias-tested AI trained on synthetic data to detect GenAI-powered fraud. This means:
- No reliance on real customer data, eliminating privacy concerns while improving detection accuracy.
- AI models trained to detect synthetic forgeries, rather than relying solely on real-world fraud patterns.
- Self-learning fraud detection, ensuring defenses stay ahead as deepfake technology evolves.
The key is responsible AI—AI that’s not just powerful, but also built to be transparent, ethical, and bias-tested to ensure fairness in identity verification.
Where the industry must go next
After speaking with financial leaders at this event, it’s clear that the industry needs to act fast to counteract the deepfake fraud epidemic.
Here are the biggest takeaways:
- Traditional fraud detection is no longer enough. The fraud landscape has changed, and KYC processes must evolve.
- The human eye alone can’t catch deepfakes. AI-powered identity verification is now a necessity.
- The future of fraud prevention depends on responsible AI. Ethical AI training and synthetic data will be key to stopping fraud without violating privacy.
Fraudsters are moving fast. The only question is: are financial institutions moving faster?
Final thoughts
If your business isn’t seeing a massive increase in AI-driven fraud, it’s not because it isn’t happening. It’s because your detection methods aren’t catching it.
This isn’t a future threat, it’s a crisis unfolding right now. The numbers we’re seeing represent real attacks happening daily across the financial sector. Financial institutions who fail to adopt AI-powered defenses risk falling behind in the fight against fraud—and the consequences could be devastating.
At IDVerse, we’re committed to helping businesses detect and prevent AI-powered fraud before it causes damage. If you’d like to learn more, please reach out.
About the post:
Images are generative AI-created. Prompt: Two robot mech warriors battling it out in the middle of a downtown street, locked in battle, epic battle, sun shining bright, very cinematic. Tools: Midjourney, Runway.
About the author:
Russ Cohn is IDVerse’s Global SVP for Go-To-Market. He has over 25 years of experience delivering successful growth strategies in the online media, SaaS, e-commerce, and data-driven technology industries. Cohn brings a deep understanding of how to support and scale operations at international technology companies and has a passion for marketing development, startup growth, and identity.
