FinCEN says it has seen an uptick in suspicious activity reporting by financial institutions describing the suspected use of deepfake media, particularly the use of fraudulent identity documents to circumvent ID verification and authentication methods. The alert explains typologies associated with these schemes, provides red flag indicators to assist with identifying and reporting related suspicious activity, and reminds financial institutions of their reporting requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act. FinCEN director Andrea Gacki says: “Vigilance by financial institutions to the use of deepfakes, and reporting of related suspicious activity, will help safeguard the U.S. financial system and protect innocent Americans from the abuse of these tools.” Crooks are not just using deepfakes to circumvent ID authentication; earlier this year researchers at Fenimore Harper warned that hundreds of AI-generated deepfake videos of Prince William and UK prime minister Keir Starmer were circulating on Facebook and Instagram to dupe viewers into scam cryptocurrency investments.