A convincing face or voice is not proof of identity. If a call, message, or video asks you to act urgently, stop and verify the request through a phone number or website you found independently. Visual clues and detection tools can raise questions, but they cannot by themselves prove that a recording is authentic.
What deepfakes, misinformation, and AI-enabled fraud have in common
A deepfake is synthetic or manipulated image, audio, or video that may impersonate a public figure or someone the target knows. Misinformation is content that misleads, whether it is fabricated, edited, or genuine material presented without its original context. Fraud is a deceptive request intended to obtain money, credentials, or other sensitive information. These problems can overlap, but they are not interchangeable: a misleading clip is not automatically a scam, and an impersonation scam does not have to use a deepfake.
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The practical risk is that familiar-looking or familiar-sounding media can make a false identity or claim feel credible. Treat the apparent identity as something to verify, not as proof.
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There is no dependable consumer checklist that catches every fake. If you notice inconsistencies, treat them as a reason to pause and seek corroboration—not as a verdict. The FBI/ABA Foundation’s 2025 infographic describes possible clues in audio and video, but a polished fake may have no obvious artifacts, and a genuine recording can also look or sound unusual.
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- In video, look for distorted facial features, unusual blinking, unnatural-looking hair or teeth, odd shadows or lighting, or a mismatch between mouth movement and sound.
- In audio, listen for unnatural tone or other irregularities that make the voice sound unlike the person you know.
- Consider the circumstances: an unexpected recording that demands immediate action deserves independent verification even if it looks convincing.
A clue can prompt scrutiny; it cannot establish who made a recording or whether its claims are true.
What should I do if someone urgently asks for money or information?
Stop before transferring money, sharing a password, revealing personal information, or agreeing to keep the conversation secret. Urgency, secrecy, and unexpected requests are reasons to verify rather than comply. The FBI/ABA Foundation recommends pausing, using trusted numbers and official websites, and creating a codeword with loved ones.
- End or pause the suspicious conversation. Do not use a callback number, link, or contact detail supplied only by the caller or message.
- Contact the person or organization through a number or website you obtained independently—for example, one already saved in your contacts or listed on an official site.
- If the request claims to come from a family member, call them on a known number or use a pre-arranged family codeword. Do not let a convincing voice substitute for this check.
- For an organization, use its official contact channel to confirm the request before sharing information or taking action.
CFTC Office of Customer Education and Outreach Director Melanie Devoe put one risk in context: “Identifying real from fake can be difficult. The best defense is to never give money to people you only meet online.” Her March 19, 2025 statement appeared in a CFTC advisory about financial fraud; it is not a warning against all online transactions or contacts. The CFTC also advised stronger social-media privacy settings and keeping sensitive information private.
How do I check whether a suspicious clip is credible?
Check the claim and context separately from the apparent identity of the person in the clip. Look for the original source and publication date, then compare the content with independent reliable outlets or primary documents. Ask whether the video may have been cropped, edited, or presented outside the circumstances in which it was recorded.
A label or watermark may provide useful information when present, but neither its presence nor absence settles authenticity. Seek corroboration from sources that do not simply repeat the same clip or claim. NIST’s overview of content transparency describes multiple approaches, including provenance, labels, and detection; none should be treated as a substitute for checking trusted context.
Can a deepfake detector prove that a video is real?
No single detector result proves that a video is genuine. NIST’s November 20, 2024 report, NIST Trustworthy and Responsible AI 100-4, surveys approaches such as provenance tracking, synthetic-content labels and watermarking, detection, prevention, software testing, auditing, and maintenance. These approaches make different kinds of claims:
- Provenance can provide information about a content item’s source or history.
- Labels or watermarks can declare that content is synthetic or carry related information.
- Forensic detection estimates whether content may have been manipulated.
Coverage and reliability depend on the media type, format, platform, and handling of the content. Transformations such as editing or recompression, or missing metadata, may affect what can be checked. NIST’s landing-page summary does not quantify performance, and it is not a consumer ranking of commercial products. If you consider uploading media to a detector, check what the service receives and how it handles uploads; the cited material does not evaluate vendors or their privacy policies.
What should I do if I already sent money or credentials?
Act promptly. The FBI/ABA Foundation infographic names the bank, IC3.gov, and local police as reporting destinations. Contact your bank or payment provider using contact details you verify independently, report the suspected scam to IC3.gov, and consider contacting local police. If you shared credentials, use the service’s official channel to secure the affected account.
Keep relevant messages, phone numbers, transaction details, and media if you can do so safely. These records may help you explain what happened when contacting the financial institution or reporting agency.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where can I report an AI-enabled scam, and what do the U.S. figures show?
For a suspected scam in the United States, the FBI/ABA Foundation infographic identifies IC3.gov, your bank, and local police as places to report or contact. Use your financial institution’s verified contact channel if money was sent.
The Federal Trade Commission’s June 2026 release reported about $16 billion in consumer losses to all types of fraud in calendar year 2025, including $3.5 billion in reported losses to imposter scams. Those figures are not AI-fraud totals: the release does not isolate losses caused by AI or deepfakes. The FTC figures describe reported consumer losses, and reported cases may not capture all fraud. Separately, the 2025 FBI/ABA Foundation infographic says that since 2020 there have been more than 4.2 million fraud reports and $50.5 billion in losses; its excerpt does not give a specific end date for that cumulative period, so those numbers are not an annual or AI-specific measure.
The agencies and reporting systems named here are U.S.-specific. Readers elsewhere should use their country’s official fraud-reporting and consumer-protection channels.
How can I reduce the chance of impersonation?
Review social-media privacy settings and be selective about posting sensitive personal details or media that could be misused to impersonate you. The CFTC’s March 19, 2025 advisory specifically recommends stronger privacy settings and keeping personal or sensitive information private, particularly from online-only contacts or callers using unrecognized numbers.
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