US Payments Forum and Lenders Highlight Surge in AI‑Driven Deepfake Borrower Fraud

The U.S. Payments Forum announced two new AI‑fraud education resources—a podcast featuring Visa, Feedzai and Velera experts, and a slide deck outlining how generative AI fuels synthetic identities, romance scams, deepfakes and other financial scams. Managing Director Devon Rhorer said the materials aim to help payments professionals “recognize the duality of AI innovation” and defend against increasingly persuasive scams.

A concurrent industry study reported by PYMNTS warns that lenders are now facing “synthetic borrowers,” AI‑generated personas that combine deepfake video, cloned voices and fabricated employment histories to pass underwriting checks. James Mirfin of Visa noted that traditional fraud cues such as nervous behavior are being outmatched by AI, and Adam Hiatt of Spreedly called it “an arms race.” The report found 77% of credit unions experienced unauthorized network access in the past year, underscoring the growing threat to banks, credit unions and fintech firms.