A few years ago, deepfake technology felt like a fringe concept. It was fascinating, unsettling, but not something businesses truly needed to think about. That’s no longer the case. Deepfake videos have moved from novelty to real-world threat, and their acceleration is reshaping the modern fraud landscape in ways most organizations simply aren’t prepared for.
What makes this shift especially dangerous is that deepfakes don’t target systems. They target people. People are far easier to manipulate than passwords, firewalls, or encryption protocols.
The Rise of Visual Identity Fraud
Traditional scams relied on texts, emails, or impersonated phone calls. Deepfakes add an entirely new dimension: visual credibility. Seeing a familiar face, whether it be a bank rep, a company leader or a loved one, triggers an instinctive trust response. Fraudsters know this, and they’re using it to bypass years of investment in security infrastructure within seconds.
A video call that appears to show a bank employee “confirming identity,” a distressed family member begging for urgent help, a CEO seemingly authorizing a wire transfer, these scenarios used to be unthinkable. Now they’re showing up in investigations across the U.S., and they’re catching companies and consumers completely off guard.
We’re entering an era where the question isn’t “Could someone fake this?” It’s “How will you know when they already have?”
Why Deepfakes Are Exploding Right Now
Three converging forces have made deepfake scams inevitable.
First, the tools required to create convincing AI videos are publicly available and extremely easy to use. What once required specialized knowledge can now be done with a smartphone and a free app.
Second, social media has handed fraudsters an endless library of facial footage to train their models. If someone has posted videos online, a scammer can likely clone them.
Third, AI has matured rapidly: the telltale glitches of early deepfakes such as unnatural lip movement, distorted eyes and awkward transitions are fading.
The result? The barrier to entry has collapsed, while the potential for harm has skyrocketed.
Real Risks Emerging Across Industries
Telecoms, insurers, banks, and cybersecurity companies are already seeing early indicators of deepfake-driven fraud. Video impersonation is being used to manipulate victims into transferring money, sharing authentication codes, approving financial transactions, or providing sensitive information. In some cases, scammers have even used deepfakes to bypass video-based identity verification systems, undermining processes designed to enhance security.
Perhaps most alarming is how effective deepfake videos are at triggering emotional compliance. A fake video of a family member in distress can override logic. A fake executive issuing an urgent directive can override protocol. The scammer doesn’t need technical sophistication, they only need the target to react before thinking.
The Impact on B2B2C Partners
Every partner in the digital ecosystem will feel the downstream effects of deepfake scams. Fraud losses are only the beginning. These incidents lead to customer support surges, insurance claims, account takeovers, and brand blame. When a scam succeeds, consumers rarely differentiate between the fraudster and the platform through which the communication traveled. They expect protection, and when it fails, loyalty erodes.
Regulation will follow closely behind. As deepfake scams escalate, institutions will face increasing scrutiny around fraud prevention obligations. The expectation that “we didn’t create the deepfake” will not absolve companies from responsibility when customers are harmed.
For B2B2C partners, the stakes aren’t theoretical. They’re operational, financial, and reputational.
Why Traditional Security Isn’t Built for Deepfakes
Deepfake scams don’t break systems, they break trust. Antivirus tools can’t detect them. Firewalls don’t stop them. Strong passwords and MFA offer no protection when the victim willingly gives up their credentials during a fabricated video conversation.
The real failure point appears long before the video itself: in the sequence of messages, nudges, emotional hooks, and persuasive buildup that scammers use to prepare the victim. This is where detection matters most, not at the moment the deepfake is shown, but at the moment the manipulation begins.
Deepfakes are the final act of the scam. The script starts much earlier.
How Kidas Helps Partners Stay Ahead of This Threat
While most fraud solutions focus only on text-based or behavioral detection, Kidas directly addresses the new frontier of video-based impersonation. Our technology is built to identify deepfake video calls in real time, giving users and partners a level of protection that traditional systems simply cannot offer.
When Kidas detects that a video participant is being impersonated through deepfake technology, our software immediately alerts the person on the other end of the call, clearly and unmistakably, that they are speaking to a manipulated, AI-generated video rather than a real human. This real-time interruption stops the scam at the exact moment when emotional manipulation is at its peak and prevents victims from acting under false pressure.
For partners, this capability represents a major advancement in fraud prevention:
- It stops high-risk scams during the critical moment of influence.
- It protects customers from sophisticated impersonation attacks that bypass all other controls.
- It reduces fraud losses tied to video-based authorization, identity verification, and financial manipulation.
- It strengthens customer trust by offering protection at the point where other tools fail, live interaction.
This isn’t just detecting deepfake content after the fact.
It’s intervening while the scam is happening, giving users the clarity and confidence they need to disengage safely.
With deepfake fraud accelerating, partners who deploy real-time video-based detection will set a new standard for digital safety, one where people are protected not just from suspicious messages, but from deceptive faces.
The Takeaway
Deepfake video scams are no longer a speculative risk. They’re here, and they are growing fast. The organizations that succeed in the next phase of fraud prevention will be those who recognize this shift early and adapt accordingly.
Security is no longer just a technical challenge; it’s a human one.
And in the deepfake era, protecting people requires understanding not just what they see, but how they’re being influenced.
Partners who prepare now won’t just reduce fraud. They’ll lead the market in defining what trustworthy digital engagement looks like in a world where seeing is no longer believing.