Sumsub keeps getting questions from our followers about the specifics of regulatory compliance, verification, automated solutions, and everything in between. We’ve therefore decided to launch a bi-weekly Q&A series, where our legal, tech, and other experts answer your most frequently asked questions. Check out The Sumsuber and our social media every other Thursday for new answers, and don’t forget to ask about the things that interest you. This week, join Jacob Sever, our Chief Innovation Officer, as he tells verifications trends 2025. Follow this bi-weekly series and submit your own questions to our Instagram and LinkedIn.
The democratization of fraud, AI-driven fraud, and real identity theft are among the most significant fraud trends, prompting businesses to adopt robust AI-powered and multi-layered defense measures, which will undoubtedly affect the landscape of identity verification. Therefore, at Sumsub, we believe the key verification trends for 2025 are:
Trend 1: Several layers of defense. The year 2024 marked the democratization of fraud, where tools for committing fraud became easily and cheaply accessible. This trend was accompanied by the rise of complex, hybrid fraud schemes and AI-driven attacks, ranging from deepfakes to AI-enhanced voices and videos. Verification at onboarding only is therefore not enough for businesses to stay fraud-free.
To combat identity fraud effectively in 2025, companies should adopt a holistic prevention strategy that safeguards every stage of the user journey, rather than relying solely on KYC, because a user might legally register for a service and later sell their account, or their account could be stolen. Safeguarding every stage of the user journey involves implementing continuous monitoring and utilizing advanced analytics to detect suspicious activity in real-time, enabling swift responses to potential threats.
An effective fraud prevention system should employ a multi-layered approach to provide robust protection against various types of identity fraud. By integrating multiple layers of defense—such as AI-powered analysis, biometric authentication, and real-time behavior monitoring—businesses can detect and prevent even the most sophisticated fraud attempts. This comprehensive framework must encompass the entire user lifecycle, from onboarding to transactions, ensuring a resilient defense against evolving threats.
Trend 2: Ongoing monitoring and reverification. Sumsub’s research shows that 76% of fraud attempts take place after the KYC process—i.e., during day-to-day user activity. This makes it crucial to conduct reverification checks and implement robust, ongoing monitoring systems to detect suspicious behavior in real time. Beyond traditional one-time verifications, continuous authentication methods that combine device behavior, geolocation, and biometrics will gain prominence.
Trend 3. Non-documentary verification. In the coming year, document-free verification will see wider adoption, allowing faster onboarding through database checks or facial authentication without scanning physical IDs. This approach is vital for urgent service access, and is AML-compliant in many jurisdictions, including India, Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia and Brazil, among others. Non-documentary verification allows businesses to potentially verify user data for over 2.9 billion people worldwide, including typically excluded markets—all done quickly and securely without requiring multiple document uploads.
You can read about the other 6 verification trends in 2025 in this article.
Jacob Sever
Chief Innovation Officer
