According to the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report, the Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 22,000 complaints related to AI, which accounted for adjusted losses of more than $893 million.

The report specifically states that although bad actors have been manipulating video and audio in fraud schemes for decades, the widespread availability of AI and the fast pace at which AI is improving are making it easier execute high-quality fraudulent content. The FBI also pointed out that AI created, fraudulent content is also becoming much more difficult to detect.

The report states that in 2025, businesses experienced losses of more than $30 million in business email compromise scams involving AI. Businesses also reported more than $13 million in losses from AI deepfake employment scams. These employment interview deepfakes are mainly aimed at gaining access to an organization's computer networks.

Other cybersecurity industry leaders have concerns regarding AI-generated scams. Some experts expect deepfake identity fraud to rise 495 percent in 2026. Deepfakes of documents are the type expected to increase the most.

Source: https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf; https://memeburn.com/deepfake-statistics-2026-reveal-a-3892-fraud-surge/

Commentary

AI-based or AI-assisted scams are growing at an alarming rate; unfortunately, prevention measures are lagging.

A survey revealed that 67 percent of respondents were worried about their voice being cloned, but only 19 percent had taken steps to disable voicemail recordings. Additionally, most respondents were afraid of AI scams but scored very low on being able to identify them. Authentic, actual human audio was increasingly misidentified as AI, and awareness of AI scams was not found to translate into strong detection performance.

To keep up with the trend of AI scams, consider these steps:

· Reject voice-only or video-only verification as insufficient for financial transactions or data requests

· Always require multiple levels of verification for financial transactions

· Coordinate fraud response with accounting, HR, IT, and leadership to ensure fraud response is addressed throughout the organization, and not left up to individual judgment

· Frequently update cybersecurity training to stay current as to the latest threats

· Conduct ongoing cybersecurity training with all staff, including real world examples designed to help them detect AI-generated fraud

· Review and update all internal policies regarding cybersecurity to stay current on the latest risks

· Utilize trusted identity verification providers for new vendors and employees

· Track and document all internal cybersecurity incidents, with or without loss

· Regularly review and test systems for security, fixing all gaps promptly to avoid vulnerabilities

The final takeaway is that AI-assisted threats are growing, and as AI improves, so will the success rate of fraud attempts. It isn't enough to know about the threats, organizations must act on that knowledge and engage in proactive cybersecurity.

Source: https://memeburn.com/deepfake-statistics-2026-reveal-a-3892-fraud-surge/