AI-driven fraud is escalating at an alarming rate, and it’s reshaping how we define digital trust. Taking findings from the Q2 2025 Digital Trust Index and Sift’s recent I, Fraudbot: Signals and Strategy for Preventing GenAI Fraud webinar, this blog explores how AI is fueling a surge in scams, shifting consumer behavior, and forcing a new approach to fraud prevention.
The Acceleration of AI Fraud
Scammers are capitalizing on GenAI to commit fraud at unprecedented scale and speed. They’re using tools to clone voices, create deepfakes, build fake AI platforms, and launch hyper-personalized phishing campaigns that fool even tech-savvy users. As a result, global scam losses hit $1 trillion in 2024—and the trend is showing no signs of slowing down.
Sift’s Global Data Network revealed a 50% spike in blocked scams in Q1 2025 compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, 74% of consumers surveyed said they’ve seen a noticeable uptick in scam and spam communications, an indication that these AI-fueled attacks are not just growing but increasingly difficult to detect.
AI-Fueled Scams Are Outsmarting Consumers
Fraud isn’t just getting more advanced—it’s also getting harder to recognize. According to Sift’s research, 70% of consumers say scams have become harder to spot in the past year. Yet a third of people remain confident they could detect an AI-generated scam. The reality is far more sobering: 20% of respondents admit to falling for a phishing attempt in the last year, and 27% of those targeted by AI-generated scams, such as deepfakes, were successfully defrauded.
There’s a growing disconnect between perceived and actual awareness of AI threats, particularly among younger generations. Gen Z and Millennials are most comfortable with GenAI, but are also the most likely to be scammed. Familiarity with AI may be creating a false sense of security.
Concern is Waning, But Risk Isn’t
Despite the spike in AI fraud, consumer concern is trending downward. In 2025, 61% of consumers say they’re extremely or very concerned about being scammed by AI—a noticeable drop from 79% in 2024. At the same time, 52% remain worried about the security of their personal information when using GenAI tools.
What’s more troubling is how often that concern fails to influence behavior. 31% of consumers admit to entering personal or sensitive data into GenAI platforms. That includes not just email addresses and phone numbers, but financial data, information about employers, and even company trade secrets.
Using AI to Fight AI
With GenAI driving more complex and fast-moving attacks, businesses must evolve just as rapidly. Static rule sets and legacy systems can’t keep pace. AI-powered fraud demands real-time, adaptive solutions that can understand user behavior in context.
That’s why the Sift Platform is designed to build and assess digital identity trust—not just at a single point in time, but throughout every touchpoint of the customer lifecycle. Sift enables businesses to connect fragmented signals into a single, unified understanding of who’s behind the screen with Identity Trust XD. This allows teams to detect fraud before it happens, automate decisions, and remove friction for trusted users.
Sift’s Activity IQ takes this a step further by leveraging GenAI to investigate account takeovers in seconds. The capability identifies anomalous behavior across sessions and surfaces relevant insights instantly, reducing investigation time by up to 90%.
Building the Future of Digital Trust
Fraud is no longer just a business risk. It’s a systemic challenge tied to identity, behavior, and trust. GenAI has supercharged fraud, but it’s also created new opportunities for smarter, faster, and more effective detection.
“I’ve been in the fraud fighting world for over 15 years. And there’s very few times in that history when there have been big shifts in the tools that are available and technology changing. This is one of them,” said Allen.
To stay ahead, businesses need to understand how fraud is evolving, invest in real-time intelligence, and adopt fraud prevention strategies that are as flexible and fast as the threats they face.
The future of fraud prevention isn’t just about stopping bad actors. It’s about recognizing who to trust and doing so with confidence.
Watch the on-demand webinar or check out the full Digital Trust Index report.
