Crypto companies will be among the most affected by audio and video deepfake fraud in 2024, with more than half reporting incidents in a recent survey.
According to the questionnaire carried out According to forensic services company Regula, 57% of crypto companies reported being victims of audio fraud, while 53% of respondents fell for fake video scams.
These rates exceed the average impact rate of 49% for both types of fraud across industries. The survey was conducted among 575 companies across seven industries: financial services, crypto, technology, telecommunications, aviation, healthcare and law enforcement.
In particular, video and audio deepfake fraud recorded the largest growth in incidents since 2022. Audio deepfakes increased from 37% to 49%, while video deepfakes increased from 29% to 49%.
Crypto companies associated with law enforcement agencies are most affected by audio deepfake fraud and are the sector with the third highest number of video deepfakes.
Additionally, 53% of crypto companies reported being victims of synthetic identity fraud, where bad actors use various deepfake methods to impersonate someone else. This percentage is above the average of 47% and relates to the financial services, technology and aviation sectors.
Meanwhile, the average value lost to deepfake fraud across the seven sectors is $450,000. Crypto companies are slightly below the overall average, reporting an average loss of $440,116 this year.
Nevertheless, crypto companies still suffer the third largest average losses, with only financial services and telecommunications companies surpassing these losses.
Recognized threat
The survey shows that more than 50% of companies across all industries consider deepfake fraud to be a moderate to significant threat.
The crypto sector is more committed to tackling deepfake video fraud. 69% of companies see this as a threat worth paying attention to, compared to the average of 59% across all industries.
This could be related to the increasing number of video deepfake scams this year. An OKX user in June claimed to lose $2 million in crypto after falling victim to a deepfake scam powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Additionally, blockchain security company Elliptic joined in August warned crypto investors on the growing US election-related deepfake videos made with AI.
In October, the Hong Kong authorities dismantled a deepfake scam ring that used fake profiles to take $46 million from victims.
