UK Fraud Strategy 2026–29: Detecting AI crime, synthetic IDs

An online webinar on June 9 will examine how the UK Fraud Strategy 2026–2029 will change responsibilities for banks, fintechs, telcos and online platforms and how organisations can detect AI‑driven crime, synthetic identities, data‑sharing failures and risks to instant payments and crypto.

Organisers plan to outline early implications of a system‑wide approach aimed at disrupting criminal activity, protecting consumers and strengthening national resilience. The session will examine where technology, regulation and criminal innovation are intersecting across banking, payments, digital identity, crypto markets and online environments, and why industry and law enforcement are prioritising a coordinated response.

Speakers will describe the fastest growing threats, including real‑time payment exploitation and synthetic identities. The discussion will cover criminal use of AI‑generated identities, deepfakes and real‑time manipulation that can bypass legacy controls.

The webinar will review defensive tools available to firms, such as predictive analytics, behavioural biometrics, tokenisation and cloud‑native fraud platforms. Panelists will consider which governance, control and technology investments are needed to secure instant payments while maintaining customer onboarding speed and normal economic activity.

The session will examine why current data‑sharing models are not delivering early‑warning intelligence. Organisers will address structural vulnerabilities and operational gaps that hinder faster intervention, including fragmented intelligence flows between banks, fintechs, telcos, online platforms and public bodies, and the limited speed and granularity of existing information exchanges.

Identity systems and verification processes are a central focus. Panelists will consider how identity infrastructure must change to counter synthetic IDs, AI‑driven impersonation and deepfake‑enabled attacks, and which short‑term upgrades to controls and oversight are realistic for organisations balancing fraud prevention with service speed.

The webinar will connect emerging risks in digital assets and decentralised finance to mainstream anti‑money‑laundering and fraud obligations. Discussion will cover how patterns across payment traffic, crypto market behaviour and online activity could provide earlier signals of criminal innovation and how those signals might be shared between industry and government to enable earlier disruption rather than only post‑event investigation.

The panel includes Robert Eastick, director and crypto lead at iSanctuary; Dr Roger Miles, consulting behavioural analyst; Sandra Blaga, AI industry solutions lead at Swift; and Megan Jenkins, policy and public affairs manager at Innovate Finance. Teresa Connors, contributing editor at Finextra, will moderate. The webinar precedes cross‑sector sessions on identity, AI‑driven prevention and crypto‑related threats at the NextGen FinCrime conference on 8 July in London.