AI-driven identity fraud poses rising threat to financial sectors

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being utilized by cybercriminals to facilitate identity fraud, which is currently the most frequent type of fraud. In the United Kingdom, Spain, and the United States, more than one-third of leaders in banking risk and innovation identify the rise of AI-generated deepfakes and fraud as a major contemporary challenge.

According to estimates from Signicat, AI-driven fraud accounts for 43% of all attempted fraud in the financial and payment sectors, with nearly 30% of these attempts being successful. Criminals use audio and video deepfakes of legitimate users to bypass 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) identity verification protocols. These attackers often employ injection attacks, inserting synthetic media into the data stream between a user and a service provider to deceive verification systems.