Fraud Week 2026: AI deception tests yesterday's defenses
Fewer than 1 in 10 anti-fraud professionals report strong readiness for AI-driven threats; SAS and ACFE spotlight how organizations can fight back
CARY, N.C., Nov. 13, 2026 /CNW/ -- A familiar voice. A convincing photo. A seemingly legitimate video call. What were once hallmarks of proof and trust can be easily manufactured in the AI age, making fraud increasingly difficult to discern. Just 7% of anti-fraud professionals say their organizations are more than moderately prepared to combat AI-driven threats, according to research by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and data and AI leader SAS.
For International Fraud Awareness Week 2026, Nov. 15-21, SAS joins the ACFE and anti-fraud advocates worldwide to confront that preparedness gap, equipping organizations and the public to recognize evolving threats and bolster their defenses.
"Fraudsters have adopted AI faster than most of the teams trying to stop them, with a speed, scale and sophistication advantage that's challenging yesterday's defenses," said John Warren, J.D., CFE, President and CEO of the ACFE. "Fighting AI-powered threats effectively requires sharper detection tools and sustained investment in the people behind them. It also takes an informed public, because anyone with a phone or an inbox is a target – and anyone can be fooled."
The ACFE and SAS will host The Next Threat Curve: Financial Crime Risk in the Age of Autonomous AI on Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. ET. The live Fraud Week webinar, open to ACFE members and non-members alike, will feature experts from SAS and KPMG exploring how agentic AI is changing fraud and financial crime – and how organizations can adapt their controls, investigations and governance in response.
"Criminals don't operate in silos, but too many organizations still do," said Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President of Risk, Fraud and Compliance Solutions at SAS. "Illicit activity is often seen in fragments. One team sees the risky application, while another sees the fraudulent payment, and yet another sees the money-laundering alert. With disparate data, systems and investigative workflows, a scheme can hide in plain sight. Bring them together, and AI provides the intelligence to reveal the bigger picture and guide investigators where they need to act."
Shining light on fraud's blind spots
From deepfake scams and disconnected banking defenses to doctored insurance claim images and abuse of government programs, SAS research examines what fraud fighters are up against:
- AI threats vs. AI defenses. The same ACFE–SAS fraud study behind the 7% preparedness finding also revealed that just 25% of organizations use AI or machine learning to fight fraud – even as 77% of surveyed anti-fraud professionals reported rising deepfake social engineering.
- Missed links across fraud and anti-money laundering (AML). Recent FRAML research by Datos Insights and SAS found that 86% of financial institutions report missed links between fraud and money laundering. While 71% of financial institutions are converging detection technology, only 13% are aligning governance, policies and organizational structure.
- Fabricated insurance evidence. SAS' exploration of AI-generated claims fraud shows how criminals can easily fake damage or erase evidence in photos – and how AI can help insurers uncover suspicious claims and connected fraud schemes.
- Mounting pressure on public funds. Upcoming research in SAS' Trust and Transparency series finds that 77% of surveyed public sector leaders say fraud-fighting challenges have increased and evolved faster over the past year. Explore why government fraud, waste and abuse continue to rise despite increased oversight.
While the research highlights mounting challenges, SAS customers are showing what's possible when industry-leading data and AI meet real-world resolve.
Finding payment errors before they multiply
For families receiving food assistance, an incorrect benefit calculation can mean too little support or an overpayment they may later have to repay. Several US states have recently selected SAS Payment Integrity for Food Assistance to help staff identify and prioritize Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cases most likely to contain errors.
Built on SAS® Viya®, the solution provides monthly risk scores to help caseworkers focus reviews on benefit determinations based on the likelihood of error and the dollar amount at risk. Since deploying the solution in March, one western US state estimates saving more than $1.2 million, helping improve payment accuracy and get benefits right for families in need.
"State government agencies are facing unique, fast-moving and ever-evolving challenges including operational hurdles, data integrity and reporting requirements," said Udo Sglavo, Vice President, Applied AI and Modeling R&D at SAS. "As data and AI challenges rapidly evolve, SAS continues to invest in innovations like our SNAP solution to meet our customers where they are in their analytical journeys and give them the exact tools they need to tackle their most complex objectives."
Scoring transactions for fraud risk in milliseconds
In the real-time payments era, banks around the world face a common challenge: screen for fraud at near-instant speed without slowing legitimate transactions.
One large European bank processes up to half a million transactions daily. Its fraud platform, running on the bank's own Amazon Web Services shared cluster, can score a transaction in milliseconds. Using SAS Financial Crimes Analytics on SAS Viya, the platform draws on account behavior, device and session data, and payee checks to inform real-time decisions. Integrated alert and case management capabilities help investigators examine transactions that demand closer scrutiny.
"When a legitimate payment gets declined, that's not just a risk and decisioning failure; it's a customer experience failure," said SAS' Bradley. "The goal isn't frictionless banking at any cost. It's putting friction in the right place, for the right reasons. This allows the bank to clear routine payments quickly, keeping legitimate customers moving while readily intervening when the risk warrants it."
Spotting manipulated images before claims are paid
When an Asia Pacific insurer experienced a recent surge in fraudulent receipt images, it turned to SAS to build a synthetic image detection tool that combines computer vision, text extraction and AI reasoning to screen for signs of manipulation. The automated workflow accepts images that pass screening, rejects identified fakes and routes uncertain cases for human review, highlighting areas of potential tampering so investigators know where to focus.
The tool was built to assess claims, but the same risks extend to any organization that relies on visual evidence and documentation to make decisions, including lenders and government agencies. In February, Australia's largest bank referred about A$1 billion in suspected home loan fraud to authorities amid allegations that include AI-generated income statements.
"Most fraud detection systems were built for a time when convincing evidence was hard to fake. That time is over," said Franklin Manchester, Principal Global Insurance Advisor at SAS. "AI can detect the digital subtleties the human eye cannot – and when fraudsters can manufacture legitimate-looking images and documents in minutes, investigators need technology that's just as fast and can examine images down to the pixel."
Follow #FraudWeek on LinkedIn and other social channels to join the global conversation with SAS, the ACFE and other experts across the fraud-fighting community.
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