Kimberly Sutherland

LexisNexis^® Risk Solutions warns that the latest wave of AI-generated deepfake documents, images and liveness videos could leave organizations significantly exposed if their identity and customer onboarding checks fail to keep pace.

The global fraud prevention specialist says it has seen a 180% year-on-year increase in attacks and warns that the quality and sophistication of deepfake documents and images improves daily. With Juniper Research predicting 100 billion identity-related checks will be carried out this year and one in every 100 failed checks will contain a deepfake, experts at LexisNexis Risk Solutions warn businesses everywhere to expect rising volumes of daily attacks targeting their digital services.

“Deepfakes vastly complicate digital identity verification. Protecting against this surge of attacks requires a solid line of defense incorporating end-to-end capture, fraud analysis and liveness checks.” says Kimberly Sutherland, global head of fraud and identity at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “Even the smallest gap in your defenses is like an open window that a fraudster can climb through.”

Bad actors use deepfakes to bypass identity checks and create new accounts or take control of existing user accounts to make unauthorized payments, withdrawals and online purchases, launder the proceeds of crime, or abuse new customer bonus incentives. One in every 11 new account creations in 2025 was a fraud attack and almost a fifth of all reported fraud involved unauthorized access of customer accounts, according to the company’s latest Cybercrime Report.

As deepfakes become more realistic, identity checks need to be capable of spotting nuanced flaws in document security features and closely examine facial expression and skin tone.

Sutherland continued, “Highly realistic deepfakes call for forensic examination of hundreds of security features: document structure, image integrity, holograms, etching and microtext. Deepfakes typically fail on several minor flaws, as opposed to physical forgeries that fail on one major issue, but they are not easy to spot with the human eye during manual checks. The same goes for deepfake images and videos. Checks need to assess micro movements in facial muscles, analyse light reflection and detect image manipulation and injection tactics.”

Analysis shows that fraudsters favor high-value, reusable identity documents, including passports, driver’s licenses and national ID cards, with the most highly sought after documents issued by the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Shane O’Sullivan, research analyst at Juniper Research, added, “As digital identity verification evolves, the core requirements shift toward the technical ability to integrate multiple trust signals into a coherent system architecture. Effective solutions depend on the coordination of document authentication, biometric liveness detection and real-time risk analysis within a single workflow. Increasingly, fraud detection system success is defined by how well it can detect advanced threats such as synthetic identities and deepfakes while maintaining interoperability across standards and minimising latency and user friction.”

Sutherland concluded, “The risk to businesses is real from both a financial and reputational standpoint. The reality is that AI-generated attacks are practically doubling year over year and getting more sophisticated with every attack.”

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Kimberly Sutherland

Research from LexisNexis® Risk Solutions takes a deeper look into how cybercriminals operate using the dark web in its latest report, Fraud for Sale: Untangling the Dark Web, part of the annual Global State of Fraud report. The insights stem from a proprietary study of the dark web commissioned in 2025.

Key findings

The study concludes that the dark web facilitates large-scale criminality by making it easy for anyone with sufficient IT skills to obtain the knowledge and tools to defraud individuals and businesses. Regulators and law enforcement repeatedly close down illicit marketplaces on the dark web only for replacements to spring up to meet the unwavering demands of the criminal underworld.

“The hidden nature of the dark web has appealed to the criminal underworld for more than a decade, arming and sheltering fraudsters from detection,” said Kimberly Sutherland, global head of fraud and identity, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “Now we can shed new light, not only on what cybercriminals do on the dark web, but on the fraud controls they are least able to bypass. Fraudster feedback tells us exactly what interferes most with their criminal exploits to hamper their success: real-time liveness checks, account activity, phone and email analysis and device fingerprinting, to name a few.”

The AI frustrating fraudsters

The use of AI and deepfakes in fraud is well documented. Yet, the report uncovers dark web chat forums awash with users venting their frustration with the latest AI-driven deepfake detection systems employed by banks and others that can scan for blood flow and micro muscle movements. Such technology appears to present a specific hurdle for would-be fraudsters, with one commenting “There is no bypass.” The research also found related forums involving some imaginative attempts to circumvent checks, such as with latex masks.

Several marketplaces were found selling established email accounts and devices capable of passing basic fraud checks. Many also offer ‘fraud-ready’ bank accounts supplied with login details and pre-completed identity checks.

Sutherland continued, “Our research reveals the dark web to be a de-facto fraud superstore giving bad actors easy access to the knowledge and tools to conduct all manner of criminal acts. With these tools they can apply for bank accounts, overdrafts and credit, set up retail accounts and make purchases without fear of consequences.

“It’s also worrying that many of the solicitations come complete with tutorial videos, showing ‘newbie’ scammers how it’s done, thereby creating a new cottage industry of amateur fraudsters across the globe. The good news is that we are not powerless against cybercriminals. As quickly as they adopt new technology it is increasingly apparent how those same AI innovations can thwart their activities.”

No safe harbor for cybercriminals

In an ironic twist, the study also finds the dark web is no safe haven for criminals. Exit scams are rife, where dark web marketplace administrators abruptly cease trading, taking their customers’ funds with them. This has led some marketplaces to take measures to demonstrate legitimacy by calling out bad behavior, barring users and banning the sale of certain items known to be worthless to buyers. As a consequence, the report found some evidence of alternative, easier access versions of these dark web marketplaces selling similar products cropping up on mainstream popular social platforms.

Read the report.

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