Sumsub launches deepfake detection tool, announces pivot to ‘full-cycle verification’

London-based identity verification firm Sumsub has incorporated enhanced deepfake detection technology into its existing biometric liveness detection solution.

Sumsub’s liveness technology looks to detect spoofing attempts during the KYC process, by ensuring users are physically present by collecting their face biometric data and then creating a 3D FaceMap. This is then continuously referenced when authorizing future actions, such as transactions or logins.

With the new update, the deepfake fraud detector will integrate directly with Sumsub’s liveness solution.

To accompany the move, the company also released a variety of statistics covering the relative prevalence of deepfake fraud worldwide.

The research found that in 2022, Spain was by far the global ‘leader’ in deep fake fraud accounting for 49.7 percent of all cases internationally, followed by the UK with 9.3 percent and the U.S. with 4.2 percent.

In Q1 2023, the most deep fakes came from Great Britain and Spain which suffered 11.8 percent and 11.2 percent of all global deepfake fraud, respectively.

This was followed by Germany and the Netherlands which had 6.7 percent of cases and 4.7 percent of cases respectively.

The U.S. held fifth place and had 4.3 percent of global deep fake fraud cases.

From 2022 to Q1 2023, the proportion of deepfakes among all fraud types reportedly increased in Canada by 4,500 percent, the U.S. by 1,200 percent, Germany by 407 percent, and the UK by 392 percent.

Last quarter, a high proportion of deepfakes out of all fraud types was also noticed in Australia,  Argentina, and China.

It’s not just Sumsub that is rolling out new tools to combat the rising threat of deepfake fraud.

ElevenLabs earlier this week unveiled a new tool that will allow users to upload any audio sample to identify if it contains audio generated with the company’s AI.

The latest move comes after Sumsub recently announced a full-scale pivot of its business offering.

Sumsub says it is transforming from a KYC provider to a biometric platform providing “full-cycle verification” for the whole user journey.

The new platform will combine user and business verification, transaction monitoring, fraud prevention, and case management solutions into a single dashboard, the company says.

Some parties have been keen to argue for the potential usefulness of digital identity in potentially preventing this type of generative AI-based fraud.

During the recent semi-annual report of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the organization’s director Rohit Chopra, answered questions from members of Congress, where the risks of generative AI were highlighted.

On the topic, Chopra said: “This identity verification issue, I think if we can solve that as a core part of the infrastructure in our country, we could actually reduce a lot of fraud as well.”

He adds that: “The benefits would be big also for market participants.”

“You can see in jurisdictions where they have implemented this digital layer they get a lot of benefit from it.”

Sumsub has been bulking up its solution offering in 2023. In March 2023, it launched a new Travel Rule solution for compliance in the crypto industry.

This new solution was aimed at helping businesses work within the bounds of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 16 on wire transfers to virtual assets (VA) such as cryptocurrencies and to Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs).

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  deepfake detection  |  financial services  |  fraud prevention  |  identity verification  |  KYC  |  Sumsub