07/15/2025

Impersonation scams surge as AI fuels identity theft

Biometric Update

Impersonation scams and AI-driven fraud are redefining the threat landscape of identity theft in the United States, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s 2025 Trends in Identity Report, which covers crimes reported from April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025.

The report paints a troubling portrait of how identity-related crimes are shifting away from traditional financial fraud and expanding into housing, education, and digital services, driven by more sophisticated tactics and a growing reliance on AI, which has fundamentally altered the dynamics of identity crime.

Fraudsters are using AI to mass-produce convincing scam content, simulate voices and faces, and create fake websites and emails that are nearly indistinguishable from legitimate ones, allowing criminals to scale their operations and personalize their attacks, making them more effective and harder to trace.  AI has proven to be a force multiplier within this underground ecosystem. It is a technological advantage that is allowing bad actors to operate with greater efficiency and scale, complicating efforts to stop them.