Digital ID experts to tackle fraud, deepfakes in high demand: OCR Labs report

Nine out of ten fintechs are planning to recruit additional digital ID experts to help tackle fraud as they expect scams to increase drastically in 2023.

The data, which also suggests nine out of 10 (86 percent) fintechs are gearing up with fraud prevention and management software, comes from a new joint report by Australian digital ID document scanner OCR Labs Global and Fintrail, a global consultancy firm.

The findings also show that more than two-thirds of fintechs plan to invest more budget into fraud prevention management initiatives, with a particular focus (40 percent) on automated technologies protecting biometric systems from deepfake attacks and digital identity verification (IDV) software (38 percent).

“Our research shows that the main challenge fintechs have with addressing this is the length of time spent reviewing cases,” explains OCR Labs General Manager Russ Cohn.

“We are seeing an increase in very convincing AI-generated deepfakes. These synthetic media would fool almost any human, and our research shows that two in three fintechs are planning to add new automated identity verification technology that can detect true human liveness.”

In terms of crime types, the report shows an increase in ‘third-party’ fraud, which includes identity theft, account takeover and social engineering scams.

The survey collected answers from over 50 global members of Fintrail’s FinTech FinCrime Exchange network to try and understand the impact of fighting identity fraud in the current economy, alongside challenges and opportunities for fintechs to handle fraud volumes in 2023.

“Investing in technology that keeps our customers safe is always our top priority,” Cohn adds.

“Fintechs that have sound business models and execution will grow, despite hard economic downturns. Unfortunately, growth and success attract fraudsters. That’s why we continue to hire and strengthen our trust and safety capabilities.”

The latest OCR Labs report comes weeks after the company joined forces with document verification provider fyio.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  deepfakes  |  digital identity  |  face biometrics  |  fintech  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  market report  |  OCR Labs  |  synthetic identity fraud