Rise of Fraud-as-a-Service, deepfakes surging 4x and more 2024 digital fraud trends uncovered in 4th annual Identity Fraud Report by Sumsub

MIAMI, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Sumsub, a global full-cycle verification platform, today released its fourth annual Identity Fraud Report. The report provides a detailed analysis of identity fraud dynamics worldwide based on millions of verification checks and over 3,000,000 fraud attempts analyzed between 2023 and 2024*. The report also includes Sumsub’s Fraud Exposure Survey 2024, featuring responses from 200+ risk professionals and over 1,000 end users.

Identity Fraud Main Trends and Statistics for 2024

Key findings from Sumsub’s report include:

• The top-5 identity fraud types in 2024 are: forged documents (50% of all fraud attempts), chargebacks (15%), account takeovers (12%), deepfakes (7%) and fraudulent networks (4%).
• The report found a significant 4x increase in deepfakes detected worldwide from 2023 to 2024
• The top-5 sectors most affected by identity fraud in 2024 are dating (8.9% fraud rate), online media (7.7%), banking & insurance (2.7%), video gaming (2.3%), and crypto (2.2%).
• The top-5 industries with the highest identity fraud growth rates in 2023-2024 are dating (265%), online media (180%), banking & insurance (162%), fintech (156%) and edtech (144%).
• The analysis of an average fraudster economy demonstrates that, with as little as $1,000 at their disposal, a fraudster group can inflict losses of up to $2.5M a month.
• The global average identity fraud rate more than doubled over three years, growing from 1.1% of all verifications in 2021 to 2.6% in 2024.
• Three-quarters (76%) of fraud occurs during ongoing account use, highlighting the need for continuous checks apart from KYC.
• Account takeover (ATO) attacks have become one of the most damaging forms of fraud. ATO cases surged by 250% YoY, a staggering rise compared to a 155% increase in 2022-2023.
• The Sumsub Fraud Exposure Survey 2024 revealed that, on average, businesses lost approximately $300,000 per fraud event in 2024, and nearly half of companies (45%) and end users (44%) worldwide reported being victims of identity fraud at least once.

“In today’s digital world, identity fraud poses a serious threat to individuals and companies. In 2024, 67% of firms reported a fraud increase,” says Andrew Sever, co-founder and CEO of Sumsub. “The Sumsub Annual Identity Fraud Report has become a go-to resource for industry leaders, with previous editions cited by the UNODC, Statista, Microsoft, and major media outlets. This year, we’ve expanded our research with insights from end-users and risk professionals, providing a detailed look at current fraud dynamics, future predictions, and actionable tips for businesses. As a full-cycle verification platform, we’re committed to sharing these insights to help the community unite against fraud.”

Identity Fraud Landscape: Regional Insights

The report provides a closer look at identity fraud trends of 2024 to see regional differences and make comparisons between countries:

• In Europe, the majority of respondents (56%) reported having fallen victim to identity fraud.
• Africa reveals the highest identity fraud rate growth YoY (167%) among all regions.
• In the US & Canada, 67% of all respondents believe deepfakes have already or will impact the elections in the future.
• The country with the highest overall identity fraud rate in 2024 is Indonesia (6.02%).
• Argentina experienced the highest increase in identity fraud rate YoY of 509%.
• While seven APAC countries are among the top 10 jurisdictions with the highest rates of applicants involved in fraud networks, Oman is the overall global leader.
• South Korea experienced the largest growth in deepfake attacks YoY (735%).

AI and Deepfakes: from Commodity to Commonplace

In 2024, deepfakes—manipulated images, videos, or voices used to impersonate individuals—have become commonplace, with their share among all detected fraud reaching 7% in 2024. Alarmingly, AI and deepfakes are changing the misinformation landscape, with recent AI-generated images of Disney World underwater, or deepfakes of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris impacting electoral campaigns.

According to Sumsub’s Fraud Exposure Survey, 81% of all respondents expressed concerns surrounding the impact of deepfakes on election integrity. At the same time, global consumers reported the lowest level of trust in online media at 48 out of 100 points. Sumsub data indicates that in 2024, deepfakes continue to grow globally, showing higher growth rates in the developing markets:  the Middle East (643%), Africa (393%), and LATAM & Caribbean (255%).

“In 2025, fraudsters will increasingly rely on AI not just for deepfakes–which are, basically, just a tip of the iceberg–but for a broader range of deceptive tools, such as AI-generated identity documents, real-life videos, synthetic voices, and AI-driven chatbots that impersonate real users. These innovations will make fraud harder to detect and more versatile,” explains Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, Head of AI/ML at Sumsub. “To fight AI-powered fraud, businesses need to deploy advanced multi-layered solutions that can analyze and detect fraud across multiple vectors, ensuring that identity fraud is tackled not just at the visual or biometric level, but across all touchpoints.”

How Cheap It Is to Commit Fraud: the Economy of a Fraudster Disclosed

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The economics of fraud have shifted dramatically, making it easier and cheaper to execute large-scale operations with minimal investment. The rise of “fraud as a service” (FaaS) models allows fraudsters to outsource key aspects of their operations to specialized providers.

On average, a single fraudster can commit around 100 fraudulent activities annually, as supported by industry reports like the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. The fraudster economics, explained in the report, highlights that an average potential annual income could be ~$29,988,000, or a potential ~$2.5M gain in one month – with as little as a $1,000 monthly investment.

To learn more and download the full Sumsub 2024 Identity Fraud Report, please go to https://sumsub.com/fraud-report-2024/

* Note on Sumsub’s research methodology

The Sumsub 2024 Identity Fraud Report compares data from 2023 and 2024. In certain cases, 2021-2022 data is also taken into account to observe trends. The report is based on aggregated and anonymized verification statistics on millions of users from 28 industries worldwide, with 3,000,000+ fraud attempts studied. All graphs and infographics are based on internal statistics compiled from the data of consenting customers.

To delve deeper into the state of identity fraud, Sumsub conducted a Fraud Exposure Survey in August 2024, gathering insights from both consumers and companies. The survey included 1,000+ end-users as well as 200+ fraud and risk professionals from companies of various sectors, including banking, crypto, payments, e-commerce, trading, and iGaming.

About Sumsub

Sumsub is a full-cycle verification and ongoing monitoring platform that secures the whole user journey. With Sumsub’s customizable KYC, KYB, Transaction Monitoring, Fraud Prevention and Travel Rule solutions, you can orchestrate your verification process, welcome more customers worldwide, meet compliance requirements, reduce costs, and protect your business.

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• The investment will initially focus on expediting development at existing sites in Navi Mumbai and Ambattur, Chennai, with an additional third site to be added in future.
• The data centres will have a combined capacity of approximately 250MW on completion of all phases.

MUMBAI, India and CHENNAI, India, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — RMZ, one of the world’s largest family-owned alternative asset owners, and Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS), a leading global hyperscale data centre operator, announced a joint venture focused on developing digital infrastructure in the Indian market. The venture represents an equal partnership between RMZ and COLT DCS.

Colt DCS has 25 years of experience developing and operating data centres in Tier 1 markets in Europe, Japan and India. It has recently enjoyed strong growth delivering sustainably designed infrastructure and world-class service for global hyperscale customers. The joint venture will accelerate the delivery of new capacity for their customers in India. RMZ brings 20 years of experience in developing, owning and operating high quality infrastructure in rapidly growing Indian markets. The joint venture will leverage RMZ’s long term relationships with supply chain partners and their Fortune India 500 customers as the company enters the digital infrastructure market.

Commenting on the partnership, Niclas Sanfridsson, CEO of Colt DCS said, “In terms of our expansion India remains a strategic country of focus and key in terms of delivering against our aggressive growth strategy. Colt DCS has a proven track record, working with the world’s largest hyperscale cloud providers and multi-national companies. The partnership with RMZ will provide the opportunity to further accelerate and execute our ambitious plans.”

Commenting on the joint venture, Deepak Chhabria, CEO of RMZ Infrastructure stated, “We are witnessing an extraordinary shift in the data centre landscape, driven by the accelerating demands of cloud adoption and the AI revolution. At RMZ Infrastructure, we recognize that digital infrastructure is not just an investment theme but a cornerstone of India’s economic future. Colt DCS’ proven track record in delivering high-quality, scalable solutions aligns perfectly with our vision for India. Colt DCS commitment to operational excellence and innovation complements our mission to build state-of-the-art facilities that meet the evolving needs of sectors such as banking, financial services, and media. This is our opportunity to shape the future of data infrastructure in India, and we are ready to rise to the challenge.“

About Colt DCS :

Colt DCS provides true service and operational excellence in the sustainable design, build, delivery and operational management of hyperscale data centres across Europe and APAC. They provide data centre solutions to hyperscale and large enterprise customers across 16 state-of-the-art carrier neutral data centres spanning 8 cities.

Their hyperscale and colocation solutions allow their customers the freedom to plan effectively for the growth of their business, knowing that their data centre strategy is ready for the demands of tomorrow.

Colt DCS has over 25 years of experience in the industry, delivering on its vision of being the most trusted and customer-centric data centre operator in the market. They put environmental awareness at the heart of everything they do and have taken ownership to reduce their environmental impact globally and make sustainability a key strategic driver. As part of its sustainability journey, Colt DCS has set comprehensive near and long-term Science-based Targets to cut their emissions in line with the SBTi’s latest Net Zero Standard.

https://www.coltdatacentres.net

About RMZ:

RMZ is one of the world’s largest family-owned alternative asset owners, with a core focus on real estate and infrastructure. As custodians of smart capital, they own and build businesses that set the foundations of a sustainable economy. Their multi-industry scale enables investment in dynamic sectors, geographies, and strategies positioned for long-term growth. Headquartered in India, RMZ specializes in real assets, encompassing premium office, industrial & logistics, hospitality, luxury living, mixed-use developments and data centers.

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With over two decades of expertise in alternative asset investment and development, RMZ is renowned for its tailored real asset solutions. As custodians of smart capital, the family-owned firm owns, develops, manages, and invests in businesses that shape the future, setting the foundations for a sustainable global economy. Future infrastructure initiatives will incorporate innovative technologies and solutions, ensuring responsiveness to evolving market demands.

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LONDON, Nov. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — As world leaders at COP29 in Baku grapple with the challenge of mobilizing USD 1 trillion annually in climate finance, investment migration has emerged as an innovative financing solution for climate-vulnerable nations. This will be a central focus at the upcoming 18^th Global Citizenship Conference in Singapore next week, where government leaders and investment migration experts will explore how citizenship and residence by investment programs can provide immediate, debt-free climate funding for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The Pacific island nation of Nauru last week launched the groundbreaking Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program — the world’s first citizenship program specifically designed to address climate change challenges, reflecting a new financing model for integrating economic development and climate solutions. It represents an emerging trend, whereby countries access private sector funding for urgent climate adaptation projects by offering residence rights or citizenship in return.

Speaking after the program’s launch at COP29 in Baku, H.E. David Adeang, President of the Republic of Nauru, emphasized the transformative potential of investment migration. “It provides small and vulnerable nations like ours with a powerful mechanism to mitigate sustainability risks and enhance climate resilience. Our citizenship program sets a new standard in this regard, channelling investments directly into projects that safeguard our nation’s future and contribute towards safeguarding key global biodiversity hotspots.”

International investment migration advisory firm Henley & Partners was mandated by the Government of Nauru to design, implement, and promote the program. Speaking at COP29, Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners, highlighted investment migration’s unique advantage. “The programs offer more than economic benefits. They attract global citizens who are committed to environmental sustainability, thereby fostering a network of advocates invested in the future of vulnerable regions.”

More than 400 delegates from over 50 countries are expected to attend the 18^th annual Global Citizenship Conference, which takes place 27–29 November in Singapore. The Hon. Mohamed Nasheed, Secretary-General of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, representing 70 climate-vulnerable nations, will address the conference and underscored the ethical obligation at hand: “Those with wealth and global mobility are uniquely positioned to act, carrying a duty to future generations to protect the planet. The concept of ‘climate justice’ emphasizes this responsibility, as developing nations — many of which contribute the least to emissions — are often the hardest hit by the impacts of climate change.”

To strengthen its advisory capabilities in this rapidly evolving space, Henley & Partners has  appointed Jean Paul Fabri as its Chief Economist. Fabri brings extensive experience in advising governments on economic development and climate resilience. “For wealthy individuals, investing in climate finance is not just an ethical duty; it’s also a significant economic opportunity. The green economy offers promising avenues for impactful investment, from renewable energy and sustainable agriculture to cutting-edge green technologies.”

Read the full press release here.

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