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   Criminals are using AI to create fake documents to trick businesses   
      
   Date:   
   Thu, 29 May 2025 14:08:55 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Forged documents are a growing threat to businesses worldwide - here's what   
   you need to know about the tech used to stop them.   
      
   FULL STORY   
   ======================================================================   
      
   We may not think much about it, but businesses need to rely on digital and   
   physical documents every day. Decisions, purchases, and deals worth millions   
   hinge on information in official documents being trustworthy. In the new    
   world that AI has brought about, forged or altered documents are becoming not   
   only very convincing, but also available to anyone with basic AI tools .    
      
   The news cycle has been replete with cases of AI being used to fake crucial   
   documents like IDs  and these only scratch the surface. AI has given   
   fraudsters the tools for fabricating invoices, tax forms, investment   
   contracts, risk assessments, financial audits, and procurement documents    
   among others.    
      
   A report on AI-assisted fraud found that digital document forgeries increased   
   244% between 2023 and 2024 making it one of the fastest growing categories of   
   business-related fraud going into 2025. For businesses operating into the    
   next decade, the possibility that they cannot trust their own internal   
   documents is becoming a problem that is impossible to ignore.   
      
   Faked documents do real harm to businesses   
      
   While cases of significant fraud will be rare given the layers of internal   
   security and regulations that prevent decision making being centered on one   
   person or one document, the real damage this will do will be to trust.    
   Without a reliable and quick way to authenticate documents businesses may    
   have to add hours into processes of checking and re-verifying documents, even   
   when they are perfectly legitimate.    
      
   At best, this will add a significant inefficiency to many businesses, wasting   
   time and effort  but at worst, it can grind operations almost to a standstill    
    costing businesses the critical advantage of time against their competitors.    
      
   This creates a need to counter this by creating systems that distinguish   
   authentic documents from tampered ones. How tech restores trust    
      
   Responding to this critical problem, new technologies focused on document   
   verification have developed quickly. Principally, the solutions that exist   
   fall into four main categories blockchain-based solutions, AI detection,   
   Identity Verification Technology (IDVT), and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).   
   Heres what you need to know about them:    
      
    Blockchain    
      
   While Blockchain started as a means for facilitating cryptocurrencies, its   
   since become a legitimate platform for business applications , where the   
   immutability of blockchains present significant security benefits when   
   integrated into business software and processes.    
      
   Blockchain authentication solutions create tamper-proof documents by matching   
   them with cryptographic hashes - meaning that a document can always be    
   checked against its hash. Fundamentally, blockchains decentralized nature   
   makes it nearly impossible for bad actors to change internal records stored    
   on the platform, providing a reassurance that once a document is placed on    
   the blockchain, you will always be able to verify it against the authentic   
   version.    
      
   Since document hashing takes place in your own environment and hashes cannot   
   be reverse engineered to rebuild the document, this method allows you to    
   avoid sending any sensitive data to third parties.    
      
   There are some legitimate concerns about the blockchain's environmental costs   
   given the vast amounts of computing and energy needed to maintain it,    
   although different blockchains offer different advantages in this regard.    
      
    AI-detection    
      
   AI anomaly detection identifies metadata, formatting, and other criteria for   
   mismatches. This is certainly the most straightforward option  as AIs have   
   become surprisingly adept at spotting the output of other AI. That said,    
   while it can be a cost-effective solution, there is no way of guaranteeing    
   its accuracy given AIs notorious hallucinations. Given this, it can be an   
   effective 'first layer against forgery but should not be relied upon   
   exclusively.    
      
    IDVT    
      
   IDVT uses AI to scan metadata and security protocols to detect fakes. This   
   scanning procedure can cross-reference the protocols with trusted databases    
   to prevent using forged credentials in business transactions. The process   
   essentially provides a checkpoint for all your data  documents are flagged   
   immediately if it doesnt match the protocols stored on an organizations   
   database.    
      
   IDVT is sometimes hampered by overreliance on database accuracy.    
   Organizations typically require a lot of resources in terms of    
   infrastructure, personnel, and access to reliable data sources to set it up   
   making it prohibitively expensive for small and medium companies. It's also   
   prone to human error- if an employee sets up protocols incorrectly, the   
   solution becomes near useless.    
      
    PKI    
      
   PKI relies on shareable digital certificates that authenticate a document's   
   origin and integrity.  Using the issuers public key to check the certificate,   
   both first parties and third parties can check its authenticity. It has the   
   advantage of being intuitive to set up, but has gained an unfortunate   
   reputation of being somewhat insecure  if bad actors are able to obtain the   
   keys and/or modify them, they can certify modified documents as authentic.   
   Regulation needs to be the answer to systemic document forgery    
      
   The truth is, AI forgery is not a business-by-business level problem, but a   
   systemic one that will need higher level regulation to address. Eventually,    
   it will become critical for governments to impose baseline metadata standards   
   and mandatory verification technology that can make vital public    
   documentation verifiable by everyone.    
      
   We cannot afford to regard AI forgeries as a distant problem  the threat of   
   serious harm being caused by an AI-doctored document grows daily. Operating a   
   business or running a government where we cannot trust the documents we    
   depend on is an impossible task. Embracing these technologies not only allows   
   us to head off this potential crisis of trust, but can open new opportunities   
   to make the organizations we rely on more transparent.    
      
    This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel   
   where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry   
   today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not   
   necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in   
   contributing find out more here:   
   https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/pro/criminals-are-using-ai-to-create-fake-documents-   
   to-trick-businesses   
      
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