SPECIAL FEATURE | AI-powered fraud reshapes online gambling
According to Sumsub’s study, fraud campaigns are becoming increasingly sophisticated as cybercriminals combine AI-generated documents, deepfakes, face swaps, behavioral masking, proxy infrastructure and coordinated account farms to evade Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.
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Artificial intelligence is making online gambling fraud more sophisticated and increasingly difficult to detect, with criminals using deepfakes, synthetic identities and automated attacks to bypass identity verification systems, according to the iGaming Fraud Report 2026 released by identity verification company Sumsub.
The study found that the global iGaming verification fraud rate rose to 1.53 percent in the first quarter of 2026, up from 1.30 percent in 2025 and 1.10 percent in 2024, representing an 18-percent year-on-year increase. Sumsub based its findings on an analysis of more than 3 million identity verification attempts collected between 2024 and the first quarter of 2026, along with interviews with more than 30 fraud, compliance and industry specialists.
According to Sumsub’s study, fraud campaigns are becoming increasingly sophisticated as cybercriminals combine AI-generated documents, deepfakes, face swaps, behavioral masking, proxy infrastructure and coordinated account farms to evade Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.
The report also found that suspicious iGaming transaction volumes increased more than fourfold over the past year, while the average suspicious transaction value climbed to more than €6,000, nearly double the previous year’s level. Sumsub said the combination significantly increases financial exposure for gambling operators.
“Fraud today is much more about connecting weak signals than catching one obvious red flag,” Alisa Trofimova, head of fraud operations and risk at Sumsub, said in the report.
The study further found that fraudsters now take 4.6 times longer than legitimate users to complete identity verification, a trend Sumsub attributed to the growing use of preparation-intensive attacks involving deepfakes, forged documents and coordinated identity manipulation.
Asia-Pacific fraud declines but remains above average
According to the Sumsub report, Asia-Pacific was one of the few regions where fraud rates declined, falling from 3.49 percent in 2024 to 1.92 percent in the first quarter of 2026, although the region remained above the global average.
Sumsub attributed much of the improvement to regulated gambling markets, noting that the Philippines, Australia, Macao and New Zealand are among the few jurisdictions in the region that permit multiple forms of regulated iGaming.
The report found that 66.15 percent of fraud detected in Asia-Pacific involved selfie fraud or deepfakes, while forged identity documents accounted for 17.91 percent of cases. Cambodia posted the region’s highest fraud rate, followed by American Samoa, Singapore, Bangladesh and South Korea.
Sumsub also reported that 76 percent of fraud in Asia-Pacific occurs after customers complete KYC verification, allowing fraudsters to use legitimate-looking accounts for money laundering, bonus abuse and other financial crimes.
AI is lowering the cost of fraud
The report argued that generative AI has significantly lowered the technical barriers for cybercriminals by making it easier to produce synthetic faces, forged identity documents and manipulated images at scale.
Sumsub described the surge of AI-generated submissions as resembling an operational distributed denial-of-service attack because verification teams are forced to process massive volumes of synthetic content rather than isolated fraudulent applications.
The report’s findings align with broader cybersecurity research showing that generative AI is accelerating identity fraud across financial services and other digital industries as AI tools become cheaper and more widely available.
The findings come as the Philippine government continues tightening oversight of the online gaming industry following its crackdown on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and related cybercrime activities. Regulators have also strengthened anti-money laundering and compliance requirements for licensed gaming operators.
According to Sumsub, traditional KYC checks alone are no longer enough to combat modern fraud. The report recommends combining identity verification with device intelligence, behavioral analytics, transaction monitoring, fraud network detection and continuous anti-money laundering monitoring throughout the customer lifecycle.
The report concluded that AI-powered synthetic identities, automated betting bots, coordinated multi-account abuse and other AI-assisted fraud schemes are expected to become increasingly common through 2026 and 2027, requiring operators to move beyond one-time identity verification toward continuous fraud monitoring.
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