Sumsub Reports Sharp Rise in iGaming Fraud

Identity verification provider Sumsub has reported a sharp rise in suspicious activity across the global online gambling industry, with incidents increasing 4.5 times between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. The findings come from the company’s latest iGaming Fraud Report 2026, which highlights the growing sophistication of fraud despite improvements in parts of the Asia-Pacific region.

Fraud Moves Beyond Initial Verification

The report analysed more than three million fraud attempts recorded during identity verification processes across online gambling platforms.

According to Sumsub, fraudsters are increasingly shifting their focus away from account registration and targeting already verified accounts, using artificial intelligence and more advanced techniques to bypass security measures.

The average value of suspicious transactions also climbed significantly, rising from US$3,960 in 2025 to US$6,500 in 2026, indicating both higher-value and more frequent fraud attempts.

APAC Fraud Rate Declines Despite More Complex Threats

Although fraud methods have become more advanced, the report recorded an improvement across the Asia-Pacific region.

Fraud rates declined from 3.49% in 2024 to 1.92% during the first quarter of 2026, representing a 45% reduction. Sumsub attributed the improvement to stronger regulatory requirements in markets including the Philippines, Australia, Macao and New Zealand.

Even with the decline, the regional fraud rate remained above the global average of 1.53%.

Verified Accounts Become Main Targets

The report found that 76% of fraud cases in Asia-Pacific now occur after customers complete Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, highlighting the growing importance of monitoring accounts beyond the onboarding stage.

Penny Chai, Vice President for Asia-Pacific at Sumsub, said fraud in the region has evolved considerably, with criminals increasingly using techniques such as money muling, bonus abuse and synthetic identities capable of passing initial verification checks.

She added that organised fraud groups are now producing sophisticated AI-generated videos designed to bypass standard facial verification systems before carrying out longer-term fraudulent activity.

AI Continues To Drive Fraud Growth

The report identified Cambodia, American Samoa, Singapore, South Korea, Bangladesh, and Japan as the Asia-Pacific markets recording the highest fraud levels.

Selfie manipulation and deepfake technology accounted for 66.15% of fraud cases in the region.

Sumsub also reported increased use of AI-generated documents, face-swapping technology, account farms, proxy networks, automated bots and other methods designed to avoid detection as verification standards become stricter.

Globally, fraudsters now spend 4.6 times longer completing verification processes than legitimate users and typically make 20% to 30% more verification attempts before succeeding.

Kris Galloway, Sumsub’s iGaming Product Evangelist, said artificial intelligence has significantly reduced the cost of carrying out fraud on a large scale, allowing criminals to generate synthetic identities, altered documents and fake verification materials much more efficiently.

Stronger Monitoring Recommended

The report concludes that online gambling operators should move beyond one-time identity verification by implementing continuous customer monitoring throughout the player lifecycle.

Sumsub also recommends combining identity verification with additional risk indicators, including device information, IP addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and fraud intelligence, to strengthen ongoing fraud detection and improve player protection.