Deepfake Scams Are Hitting Businesses Hard, New Report Finds

A new report from Pindrop, the 2026 Deepfake Readiness Index, has found that 74% of surveyed US security leaders experienced a suspected deepfake incident in the last 12 months. Of those affected, one in four reported losses exceeding $1 million from a single attack, while nearly half reported losses of at least $500,000. These costs include direct financial theft as well as the time and resources spent responding to and recovering from the incident.

Deepfakes are AI-generated audio or video that convincingly imitate a real person, making them a powerful tool for scammers. Criminals have used them to impersonate colleagues, executives or bosses to trick employees into transferring funds or sharing sensitive data. In some cases, nation-state hackers have even used deepfakes to pose as job applicants and gain employment inside technology companies.

Despite these risks, the report found a worrying gap between the scale of the threat and business preparedness. Three in four respondents believe it would take a senior leader actually being impersonated or fooled before deepfakes are taken seriously at board level, and 93% of security leaders said their organisation is not currently ready to handle the threat.