Entrust 2026 Report Shows Surge in Deepfakes, Social Engineering Attacks

News Summary:

• Entrust 2026 Identity Fraud Report reveals fraud continues to rise in each scale and class as fraudsters leverage AI.
• Deepfakes are linked to each one in 5 biometric fraud makes an attempt, with injection assaults growing 40% year-over-year.
• National IDs focused, bodily counterfeit and digital forgeries dominate, and psychological manipulation is growing.

Entrust, a world chief in identity-centric safety options, at the moment launched its seventh annual Identity Fraud Report for 2026. The report examines world developments, ways, and methods used in identification fraud over the previous yr, offering actionable insights to assist companies shield their prospects and operations.

Deepfakes and injection assaults on the rise

New information reveals deepfakes account for one in 5 biometric fraud makes an attempt, and cases of deepfaked selfies elevated by 58% in 2025. Other fraud ways throughout biometric techniques embrace photograph of a display screen, photograph of a printout, 2D and 3D masks, video of a video on display screen, and video of photograph on display screen.

This rise in deepfakes is a part of a broader development of more and more subtle assaults pushed by injection assaults, which surged 40% year-over-year. Injection assaults allow fraudsters to bypass stay seize processes by feeding manipulated photographs or movies straight into verification techniques. When mixed with deepfakes, these subtle methods can convincingly mimic customers and stay seize experiences, making detection troublesome with out sturdy, multi-layered fraud prevention.

Fraud throughout the shopper lifecycle

The report additionally highlights developments in when fraud occurs throughout the buyer lifecycle and the way it varies by trade and enterprise fashions. Sectors providing sign-up bonuses, comparable to cryptocurrency, face the very best charges of onboarding fraud, accounting for 67% of fraud makes an attempt. Meanwhile, industries with precious, long-standing accounts, comparable to funds and digital-first banks, expertise greater charges of account takeover (ATO) fraud, accounting for 82% and 55% of fraud makes an attempt concentrating on the authentication course of, respectively. ATO fraud includes hijacking present person accounts, usually by way of stolen credentials, phishing, malware, or social engineering, to steal funds or harvest delicate information.

Social engineering and psychological manipulation

Building on the technical threats, the report additionally reveals how fraudsters are more and more concentrating on people by way of psychological manipulation. By utilizing ways comparable to phishing, impersonation, and coercion, fraudsters are convincing victims to make use of their real identification, hand over delicate information, or switch funds.

Additional key findings from the 2026 Identity Fraud Report embrace:

• Physical and digital doc fraud: In 2025, digital forgeries made up 35% of doc fraud – up from a 29% common between 2022 and 2024. Overall, there’s the next quantity of bodily counterfeits (47%), however usually the sophistication of digital forgeries is greater, pushed by the web availability of AI instruments.
• National ID playing cards most exploited: National ID playing cards accounted for practically half (46%) of all fraudulent doc submissions globally. Fraudulent nationwide IDs are most prevalent in EMEA (45%) and APAC (60%), whereas AMER experiences extra fraudulent driver’s licenses (37%).
• Peak exercise after hours: Modern fraud operations are extremely organized and world in scale, making fraud a 24/7 enterprise. Data from Entrust reveals that fraud makes an attempt peak between 2:00 am and 4:00 am UTC, when defenses in many areas are offline.
• Fraud on repeat: Fraudsters typically use a “rinse and repeat” technique, recycling faux particulars throughout a number of fraudulent identification paperwork. Commonly used components embrace names comparable to Jon Doe, doc numbers like A12345678, and birthdates together with October 16, 1986.

“As detection improves, fraud rings evolve, changing into sooner, extra organized, and commercially pushed,” stated Simon Horswell, Senior Fraud Specialist Manager at Entrust. “Generative AI and shared ways gasoline volumes and class, concentrating on individuals, credentials, and techniques. Identity is now the entrance line, and defending it with trusted, verified identification throughout the shopper lifecycle is important to staying forward of adaptive threats.”

“With over 1 billion identification verifications performed throughout 195 nations and greater than 30 industries, Entrust provides unparalleled insights into how fraud operates and learn how to assist mitigate it,” stated Tony Ball, President of Payments & Identity and Incoming CEO at Entrust. “Our world attain and deep fraud intelligence imply we’re uniquely positioned to drive steady innovation and share significant insights for purchasers. The way forward for digital belief lies in layered, identity-centric methods powered by AI, delivering fraud prevention and seamless person experiences.”

Download the total 2026 Identity Fraud Report to study extra.

Methodology

The 2026 Identity Fraud Report serves as a information to world identification fraud developments and methods threatening companies in 2026. Through its identification verification answer, Entrust processes thousands and thousands of identification verifications annually throughout 195 nations. The report shares insights gained on the state of distant identification fraud over the previous yr, primarily based on evaluation of knowledge collected from September 2024 to September 2025. The information and developments are reflective of the verification area and may not all the time mirror wider market developments. Data has been normalized by shopper and trade distribution.

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