In recent years, Brazil has faced a sharp increase in digital crimes involving false identities. In 2024, more than half of the adult population (51%) reported being victims of some type of digital fraud, a significant increase from 42% the previous year. Government data show that while physical bank robberies dropped by nearly 30%, the rise in online scams skyrocketed, indicating criminals are opting for low-risk, high-reach strategies via the internet.
The number of identity fraud attempts also hit record highs. The Serasa Experian Indicator recorded 11.5 million fraud attempts in 2024—a 9.4% increase from 2023. In the first quarter of 2025, there were nearly 2 million fraud attempts in just the banking and credit card sectors, a volume 21.5% higher than the same period the previous year.
Global studies also corroborate the trend: worldwide, online fraud grew by about 20% in 2023, and the vast majority (85%) involved some form of identity forgery, according to a 2024 Veriff report. In Latin America in particular, it is estimated that 81% of identity fraud cases occur using identification documents, whether altered or stolen.
Financial and operational impacts
The consequences of this rise in digital identity fraud are severe for both victims’ wallets and business operations. At least 54% of Brazilians who fell for online scams last year suffered financial losses, as reported by Serasa Experian.
For the private sector, the potential loss is staggering. Just the attempted bank fraud recorded in early 2025, if successful, would represent over R$15.7 billion in losses for the financial system. In 2024, data breaches and cyber scams were estimated to have caused losses of a staggering R$2.3 trillion in Brazil.
Even when fraud is detected before causing financial damage, companies bear high operational costs: incident investigations, customer support for victims, security system upgrades, and the risk of regulatory penalties if they fail to protect data and prevent money laundering.
Fraud and social engineering
Digital fraudsters in Brazil use a variety of tactics involving fake or stolen identities. One of the most common is opening accounts and registrations using forged or altered documents, often with leaked data. This ‘origination fraud’ grants unauthorized access to financial services and benefits. Another frequent method is the misuse of third-party identities, including deceased individuals, to secure loans and banking contracts. Scammers have even bypassed ‘proof of life’ checks with deepfakes and digital masks, fooling facial recognition systems to release funds or benefits. These cases constitute pure identity theft, leaving victims saddled with debts, lost benefits, and lengthy processes to prove fraud.
There are also frauds based on forged documents like ID cards, CPF, or driver’s licenses, where real and invented data combine to create synthetic identities. Modern image editing and AI techniques have made these forgeries more convincing and quicker to produce. To complicate matters, social engineering scams misuse identities to deceive victims and obtain data or money. Often, these schemes rely on fake documents to enable the fraud, creating an ecosystem that blends psychological manipulation and document verification flaws.
How to combat the rise in fraud?
To enhance security and reduce vulnerabilities, banks can adopt specialized outsourcing for contract formalization. By partnering with firms that have dedicated infrastructure, standardized processes, and advanced document validation technologies, additional layers of verification, authentication, and secure storage can be implemented, reducing the risk of inconsistencies, forgeries, or data loss.
This approach also ensures greater regulatory compliance, as specialized partners follow strict document management protocols, guaranteeing that each contract is formalized, recorded, and preserved in an intact and auditable manner.
These companies typically use OCR and AI systems that verify document authenticity and cross-check data with government sources like the IRS, Central Bank, Electoral Court, and Gov.br, quickly identifying fake or stolen information. According to Serpro, this integration, combined with official biometrics, can reduce fraud attempts involving forged or reused documents by up to 70%.
Modern tools already detect sophisticated digital manipulations, and studies indicate that in transactions using the new Digital Identity Wallet, fraud risk dropped to 0.08%, compared to 3.8% when traditional non-biometric documents are used.
All these measures share one goal: ensuring that in the near future, identity fraud is prevented almost invisibly—by identifying fraudsters through their anomalous digital traits—while legitimate users navigate with confidence. Together, these efforts aim to stem the tide of false identity fraud, protecting both the financial assets and the digital identity of millions of citizens and businesses in Brazil.
