![\"Synthetic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c1_3293227_260729061724_800.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSynthetic identity fraud has increased globally by as much as 300% in recent times.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
AI-driven identity fraud is emerging as a growing cyberthreat as attackers increasingly exploit synthetic identities, deepfakes and autonomous artificial intelligence agents to target digital systems, according to Ping Identity.<\/p>\n
Jasie Fon, regional vice-president for Asia at Ping Identity, an identity management provider, told the Bangkok Post that Thailand is not immune, as the rapid digitisation of financial services, e-commerce and public platforms makes identity a primary attack surface.<\/p>\n
“Across Southeast Asia, attackers are using AI to create synthetic identities, deepfake personas and automated agents capable of interacting with digital systems at scale,” she said.<\/p>\n
Citing an analysis by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Ms Fon said organised crime groups are already using AI for voice cloning, deepfakes and identity fraud.<\/p>\n
Synthetic identity fraud has increased globally by as much as 300% in recent times, as attackers combine genuine and fabricated information to bypass identity verification systems.<\/p>\n
Deepfake impersonation is among the most concerning threats. Fraudsters can use AI-generated video or voice to imitate executives, authorise fraudulent transactions or persuade employees to disclose sensitive information.<\/p>\n
Such attacks exploit organisations’ growing reliance on remote and digital workflows, making verification more difficult and increasing the risk of costly errors.<\/p>\n
AI-powered phishing and scams are also becoming more sophisticated.<\/p>\n
“Automated bots can generate highly personalised messages in Thai and other regional languages at a scale that traditional anti-phishing systems struggle to detect,” she said.<\/p>\n
Attackers are also combining stolen data with AI-generated personas to create identities capable of opening bank accounts, e-wallets and digital service accounts. These accounts can then be used to launder money, bypass know-your-customer controls or conduct other fraudulent activities.<\/p>\n
Another emerging threat is AI-enabled mule account creation, in which automated bots bypass verification processes to establish accounts for moving illicit funds.<\/p>\n
Ms Fon said these attacks are becoming increasingly scalable, adaptive and automated, creating significant challenges for enterprises as digital adoption accelerates.<\/p>\n
Fragmented systems create additional blind spots as AI expands the attack surface. She said 69% of Southeast Asian organisations reported that AI had contributed to recent cybersecurity incidents.<\/p>\n
A shortage of expertise in managing non-human identities and autonomous systems adds to the risk, leaving many security teams unprepared to govern AI agents or respond to related incidents.<\/p>\n
AI can help defenders detect anomalies, reduce manual workloads and automate threat containment. However, attackers use the same capabilities to launch targeted attacks at scale and adapt rapidly.<\/p>\n
This is creating an “AI speed gap”, contributing to longer recovery times and higher breach costs across Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
To address the risks, Ping Identity advocates treating every AI agent as a first-class identity. Under its “Identity for AI” framework, organisations can discover, govern and monitor AI agents through a unified control system, reducing the risk of unapproved “shadow agents”.<\/p>\n
The framework applies authentication, authorisation and least-privilege access by default.<\/p>\n
AI agents can be managed alongside human and machine identities, with access decisions made in real time based on context rather than static permissions.<\/p>\n
Sensitive actions can also be monitored, reviewed and linked to accountable owners, improving transparency across autonomous workflows.<\/p>\n
Ms Fon said organisations should assign every AI agent a clearly defined identity, owner and lifecycle, while enforcing least-privilege access and continuous authorisation.<\/p>\n
She said regulators and enterprises across Southeast Asia are increasingly strengthening electronic know-your-customer and identity assurance frameworks, reflecting wider recognition that identity security is fundamental to the safe deployment of AI.<\/p>\n
Cyber-enabled fraud in Southeast Asia has reached billions of dollars annually, while some studies suggest breaches involving AI-related attacks can cost more than twice as much because of their complexity and scale.<\/p>\n
Organisations also face reputational damage and declining trust in digital services, particularly in finance and e-commerce.<\/p>\n
![\"Ms](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6170317.png\")
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Ms Fon says Thailand is not immune to AI-driven identity fraud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Synthetic identity fraud has increased globally by as much as 300% in recent times. AI-driven identity fraud is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,269562,363,269557,364,269560,269558,269561,16066,269556,111,139,69,269559,145],"class_list":["post-548824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-ai-phishing","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence-security","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-cybersecurity-thailand","tag-deepfake-threats","tag-digital-identity-management","tag-enterprise-security","tag-identity-fraud","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-synthetic-identity-fraud","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}