AI has changed the rules of deception. What once took a skilled fraudster hours or days now takes a model seconds.
Just in time for International Fraud Awareness Week 2025 on 16-22 November 2025, a new cross-industry survey of anti-fraud professionals by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and data and AI leader SAS finds that:
- 77% report an acceleration in deepfake social engineering over the past 24 months; and
- 83% anticipate a moderate (28%) to significant (55%) increase in such schemes in the next two years.
These early insights – previewing the fourth edition of the Anti-Fraud Technology Benchmarking Report, coming in March 2026 – signal a rapid rise in AI-fuelled fraud that is escalating risks for both industry and the public.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most powerful tools in business – and one of its most potent threats,” says John Gill, president of the ACFE. “Awareness is our best defence as new risks continue to evolve.
“Educating professionals, equipping government and industry and empowering the public to recognise the AI-guided threats proliferating unseen is vital to maintaining trust and building confidence for what lies ahead.”
Stu Bradley, senior vice-president of risk, fraud and compliance solutions at SAS, comments: “AI is blurring the boundary between truth and imitation, with untold billions at stake.
“Even as AI drives seemingly limitless progress, it tests the very limits of truth itself. We must educate the public about what’s at stake – and ready government and industry to face AI-charged fraud, at a time when fewer than one in 10 anti-fraud pros feel well prepared, according to our recent survey of ACFE members.”