The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued a critical alert to assist financial institutions in identifying and addressing fraud schemes involving deepfake media created with generative AI (GenAI) tools.
This guidance outlines typologies linked to these schemes, presents red flag indicators to detect suspicious activity, and reminds institutions of their reporting obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act.
FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki highlighted the potential abuse of GenAI, stating, “While GenAI holds tremendous potential as a new technology, bad actors are seeking to exploit it to defraud American businesses and consumers, to include financial institutions and their customers.
“Vigilance by financial institutions to the use of deepfakes, and reporting of related suspicious activity, will help safeguard the U.S. financial system and protect innocent Americans from the abuse of these tools.”
The alert reveals a rise in suspicious activity reports concerning the use of deepfake media, particularly in fraudulent identity documents designed to bypass verification systems. Criminals have employed GenAI to create realistic synthetic content, making it increasingly challenging to distinguish between genuine and falsified materials. These tools have been used to facilitate various fraud schemes, including loan fraud, credit card fraud, and identity theft, posing significant risks to financial institutions.
Key red flags include inconsistencies within customer identity documents, mismatches between identity details and transaction behaviours, and anomalies such as rapid transaction patterns or IP address discrepancies. To mitigate these risks, FinCEN recommends multifactor authentication (MFA), live verification checks, and collaboration with identity verification providers leveraging advanced detection techniques.
The alert also highlights the growing sophistication of phishing schemes powered by deepfake technology. Scammers have used GenAI to impersonate trusted individuals, manipulate employees into making unauthorised payments, and conduct high-stakes fraud targeting both institutions and their customers.
FinCEN’s guidance underscores the broader effort by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to address challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence. Financial institutions are encouraged to adopt proactive measures to enhance their fraud detection and compliance processes in the face of evolving technological threats.
The full alert can be read here.
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