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Veriff Deepfakes Report 2026: Americans Are Failing the Deepfake Test, Even When They Think They Are Winning
Data reveals growing concern among Americans about deepfake-driven personal fraud, yet many struggle to distinguish real versus AI-generated visuals.
New York, May 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Veriff, a global AI-native identity platform, today released the 2026 Veriff Deepfakes Report in the U.S., new research conducted with Kantar, revealing Americans are aware deepfake fraud is happening, but they still can’t spot it.
The report shows only 63% of U.S. adults say they are familiar with the term “deepfake,” compared with 74% in the UK and 67% in Brazil. When asked to identify authentic versus AI-generated or manipulated visuals:
- U.S. respondents achieved an average detection score of 0.07 on a -1 to 1 scale, where 0 indicates random guessing, suggesting that deepfake detection is effectively a coin flip for the average person.
- Videos were the most difficult to identify. In one side-by-side comparison, respondents were essentially split on the male video pair (52% correct). But the female video pair was significantly worse: only 30% answered correctly, meaning 70% misidentified the fake as real.
- Americans often cite cues such as unnatural skin (53%), odd facial movements (51%), or oddities in appearance (52%) to spot deepfakes, but these tells are becoming less reliable as AI improves. 36% relied on an overall “gut feeling.”
Key findings also show a widening confidence-competence gap. Around half of U.S. respondents believe they can reliably spot manipulated media, yet their performance remains close to chance. Veriff’s research also identifies that about 7% percent of respondents across markets fall into a “high-risk” segment of users who struggle to detect deepfakes, are highly confident in their ability, and rarely verify suspicious content. This makes them prime targets for deepfake-driven scams and synthetic identity attacks.
“Our research reveals what may be the most dangerous dynamic in the deepfake era: overconfidence,” said Ira Bondar-Mucci, Fraud Platform Lead at Veriff. “Seeing is no longer believing. The most dangerous element of this report isn't that deepfakes are becoming increasingly sophisticated, but that people think they can tell, and they cannot.”
While awareness and accuracy remain low, concern is high. 79% of Americans say they’re concerned about deepfake-driven personal fraud/scams such as impersonation. The combination of high concern and limited detection capability creates an increasingly attractive environment for fraudsters targeting onboarding flows, account recovery, and high-value transactions.
The US stands out in one important respect: compared to respondents in the UK and Brazil, Americans are more likely to trust social media platforms and digital services to identify and manage AI-generated content. This creates a potential mismatch between perceived and actual protection. While concern is high, reliance on platforms may reduce individual vigilance.
“Any organization that still relies on manual review processes or customer self-attestation is inheriting this vulnerability directly,” said Bondar-Mucci. “Verification needs to be built into systems by default. Automated, technology-led validations that are not dependent on the end user to spot the fake themselves are proven to be most efficient.”
The Veriff Deepfakes Report 2026 is available now here.
Think you can spot a deepfake? Try Veriff’s Deepfakes Quiz here.
Methodology
Veriff partnered with Kantar to conduct an online survey in February 2026 among 3,000 respondents (1,000 each in the U.S., UK, and Brazil), aged 18–64. Participants assessed 16 visuals (8 real and 8 AI-generated/manipulated), including AI-generated images, AI-generated videos, and faceswap content.
About Veriff
Veriff is a global AI-native identity platform that helps organizations build trust online. Leading companies across financial services, marketplaces, mobility, gig economy, and other digital sectors rely on Veriff’s technology to stay compliant, prevent fraud, protect users, and scale globally.
Veriff’s trust infrastructure supports the full customer journey, from verification to ongoing authentication and fraud prevention, with the least friction for honest people. Built for global scale, Veriff helps businesses expand across borders without the complexity of managing identity verification, compliance, and fraud in multiple markets – creating a single source of truth for trusted identities.
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Veriff press@veriff.com
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