Verified trust is the new currency: so says a new report from reusable verified identity and screening company Trua, looking at the state of trust and safety in online marketplaces. While the report from the reusable finds some differences between age demographics, the overarching message is clear: as deepfakes and AI agents infiltrate an increasingly fraught data landscape, users want to feel secure in knowing that they can trust the platforms they choose.
Biometric digital identity verification increasingly has a role to play in protecting users against bad actors who aim to violate that trust. For adult content platforms, dating apps, the gaming sector and the cryptocurrency community, biometric ID verification offers protection against fraud, compliance with privacy regulations, and a way to keep bots and deepfakes at bay.
In the era of generative AI, 75 percent of consumers fear bots masquerading as humans. Scams are on the rise, and consumers want clarity, security and social proof. And they want the process for communicating that proof to be as private as possible: Trua says 78 percent of Americans “strongly support identity verification systems that eliminate the need to share personal information during every interaction with service providers, whether online or in person.”
Cue the age of ID wallets, biometric identity verification and digital identity.
Jumio’s ID verification scores wins in Brazilian gaming sector
Jumio has put all its chips on the gaming industry, announcing in a release last month that it is “going all-in on gaming.” Regulatory changes in Brazil, combined with progress in the development of mobile driver’s licenses (mDL) and digital IDs, has led to a rich opportunity to implement biometric ID verification for gaming, gambling and sports betting.
Robert Prigge, Jumio’s CEO, says that by leveraging the company’s biometric IDV, “gaming operators around the world can offer a winning user experience while helping safeguard their platforms, meet compliance requirements, protect their reputations, and meet the challenges of this rapidly growing and changing market in 2025 and beyond.”
SumSub says fraud-prone crypto industry needs biometric ID verification
The maturing crypto market is no longer a wild frontier, with regulations tightening and fraudsters well-versed in its contours; a report from London-based ID verification firm Sumsub says the industry is at a tipping point, with fraud up by 48 percent.
Biometric identity verification is thus becoming not just an adjunct to blockchain-based crypto systems, but a critical tool for protecting users and their assets, and staying on the right side of the law. Per the report, “innovations like biometric checks and document-free verification have boosted onboarding success rates to 93.39 percent, streamlining compliance in challenging regulatory environments.”
Love is in the air; unfortunately, it’s a deepfake
Few online domains are as sensitive as those that promise intimacy, and both dating sites and adult content sharing platforms are looking to biometric ID verification as a way to keep fraudsters out of the boudoir.
Data from Sumsub shows that three quarters of UK dating app users have come across deepfakes, 19 percent have personally been deceived by one, and 22 percent have had someone close to them misled by a malign AI. In the last five years, an estimated £410 million ($US514M) was lost to romance scams.
But an even more valuable asset is being lost: the 10 most popular online dating apps lost nearly 16 percent of their users in 2024. As users become more cautious about online romance scams, platforms looking to survive will need the assurance that comes with biometric identity verification.
In the words of Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, head of AI & ML at Sumsub, “without meaningful action, deepfakes and synthetic content generated by AI represents a threat to the users of all digital services. Online dating is particularly at risk – as shown by the level of ID fraud it faces – more than all other sectors, even compared to finance or online media.”
“Failing to keep up with fraudsters will only put users at risk of financial, physical and emotional harm – while also damaging the businesses themselves as the user exodus continues from 2025.”
Regula says romance scams run the gamut from soldiers to sugar daddies
Newly released data from Regula points to similar conclusions.
“The rise of accessible and powerful generative AI tools has made scamming easier than ever,” says a report from the forensic research and IDV firm based in Latvia. “Fraudsters can now create highly convincing fake profiles on social platforms, making online deception more sophisticated and harder to detect.”
The flavors of online romance scam do not stop at a bit of sexy texting. Regula notes the variety of romance scams now at play, from fake celebrity romance scams to pig-butchering scams to lonely soldier scams.
As the problem escales, Regula says, stronger fraud prevention tools such as biometric IDV, liveness detection and real-time monitoring are essential.
iDenfy keeps deepfake profiles off Flirtback with biometric age, ID checks
Perhaps even more delicate than an online romance is the relationship between an online adult content provider and their fans. Lithuanian firm iDenfy has a case study on Flirtback, which “wanted to ensure that all content creators on its quickly scaling platform were providing legitimate identity documents.”
Initially, the company handled ID verification manually, which proved “time-intensive, prone to human error, and increased the risk of fake profiles slipping through.” The process for onboarding creators became a deterrent, and Flirtback needed a solution that combined accurate biometric ID verification with an age verification component.
The site selected iDenfy because “their solution was customized to account for regional regulations, ensuring that creators met specific requirements for their location, which was particularly beneficial as we have creators globally.” And additional liveness checks helped combat the creation of AI-generated or deepfake profiles.
Article Topics
biometrics | deepfake detection | digital identity | face biometrics | fraud prevention | iDenfy | identity verification | Jumio | onboarding | Regula | selfie biometrics | Sumsub | TruaID