Imagine this: you get a video call from a person who looks and sounds like the CEO of your go-to crypto exchange, requesting that you complete a transaction. It sounds and looks official. But it is not. It’s a deepfake.
Based on Elliptic’s State of Crypto Scams 2025 report, scammers are employing AI chatbots, deepfakes, and fake ID creators to mass-produce and automate crypto scams at industrial scales. This combination of trickery and technology is driving scammers way past email phishing—into live imitations and multilingual trust manipulation.
AI Chatbots Enable Trust—and Abuse
Scam artists are using AI chatbots to pose as actual people, talking victims into committing through seemingly real back-and-forth conversations. The bots impersonate personality characteristics and language patterns to establish a rapport—particularly prevalent in high-return “pig-butchering” scams—without human intervention. And the outcome? Victims become emotionally attached and more likely to entrust their crypto.
Deepfake Videos and Voice Cloning
Generative AI deepfakes have caused a disturbing new resource to fall into the hands of criminals. Scammers can generate high-quality video calls or voice calls impersonating influencers, CEOs, or loved ones, with minimal effort. Elliptic has documented instances where teleconference-style scams resulted in an average loss of tens of thousands of dollars. Notably, a high-profile case in Hong Kong involved a $25 million transfer authorized by a cloned CFO with deepfake communications.
Deepfake content is growing rapidly—expected to rise to over 8 million from 500,000 instances by 2025, making it more difficult than ever to detect and extending the reach of scammers significantly.
Fake-ID Generators Bypass KYC Safeguards
Elliptic has seen AI-powered systems create realistic ID cards, driver’s licenses, and passports on a large scale. These systems have even been known to facilitate the unlawful onboarding of phony accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges. In order to bypass AML systems and facilitate money laundering, scammers use these fake identities to run untraceable pony accounts and transfer stolen funds.
For a broader understanding of various fraud schemes affecting the financial world—including advance-fee, phishing, and investment scams—check out our detailed guide on 10 Common Financial Frauds and How to Prevent Them.
A Landscape of Large-Scale Threats
- Crypto-based scams accounted for more than half of the $1 trillion in scam losses in 2024, or about $9.3 billion in the US alone.
- At least $4.6 billion was lost in 2024 as a result of AI deepfake-driven fraud, with deepfakes accounting for 40% of high-value scams.
- At least 87 scam rings that employed deepfakes were shut down in Asia in the first quarter of 2025.
How Exchanges, Brokers & Investors Can Fight Back
Invest in Deepfake Detection
Tools like TruthScan and biometric liveness testing help flag AI-generated content.
Enhance KYC with AI-Aware Controls
Deploy document-checking, address verification, and analyses that detect common AI-ID generation features.
Monitor Blockchain Behavior
Use analytics like Elliptic Navigator or Investigator to identify laundering patterns, fake wallet use, and cross-chain obfuscation.
Train Employees and Clients
Help them question urgent video calls or unexpected requests, and verify them through separate channels—calls, official emails, or trusted intermediaries.
Want to verify if a platform or broker is trustworthy? Explore our in-depth Broker Reviews to spot red flags before investing.
Share Threat Intelligence
Widespread collaboration—via industry coalitions and regulators—can help spot emerging AI-driven tactics early.
Final Takeaway
AI isn’t just transforming financial services—it’s revolutionizing fraud. As AI chatbots build rapport, deepfakes impersonate real people, and fake IDs slip past KYC, the traditional defenses are no longer enough.
Exchanges, brokers, and individuals must change quickly by improving identity checks, investing in detection tools, and integrating the use of AI into their daily operations. We can only stop scammers from stealing trust in the digital financial ecosystem by being one step ahead of them.
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