According to one article, synthetic ID document fraud is spreading at an alarming pace globally, and generative AI is almost solely the reason.
The article by Efosa Udinmwen at TechRadar (Synthetic ID document fraud is exploding worldwide thanks entirely to Generative AI: here’s how to stay safe, available here) discloses a pretty dramatic rise based on new data from Sumsub, as follows:
- The creation of fake documents using AI grew by 195% worldwide between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025.
- The most dramatic spike was recorded in Europe, where synthetic ID document fraud surged by 378%(!), followed by North America at 311%(!).
Three to four times the growth rate! Dang! 🤯
Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), this trend appears to be gaining ground on traditional document forgery, which has declined sharply in most regions, dropping by 82% in Africa and 50% in North America – with Europe the exception, where traditional forgeries increasing by 33%.
This shift suggests scammers are moving from conventional techniques to AI-generated identities, which can now be produced in seconds using largely unregulated tools.
The industries most affected by this trend include crypto, trading, transportation, fintech, and gambling, all sectors which often rely on rapid onboarding processes and may not yet have strong enough safeguards to detect synthetic documents before damage is done.
When they say “transportation”, I’m curious what’s included. Since 2021, the US has issued what it calls a “next generation” passport book which includes a polycarbonate data page and laser engraving, which are designed to make it difficult to alter or counterfeit the document.
The article also notes that parallel to this trend is a dramatic rise in deepfake-related fraud, where North America saw a “staggering” 1,100% increase in such cases, with Europe following at 900%.
That’s not exactly “parallel”, but not surprising either. As I’ve discussed many times, the power of GenAI based tools can be applied for evil purposes as easily as it can be applied for good purposes. Sadly, we’re seeing a lot of both.
So, what do you think? Are you surprised at the growth rates for synthetic ID document fraud? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
Image created using Microsoft Designer, using the term “robot customs agent examining the passport of a robot traveler”.
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