Colombia sees 188% rise in account takeovers

In Colombia, account takeover attempts rose 188% in the period analyzed by Sumsub’s 2025-2026 Identity Fraud Report, cited by Infosertecla, and the increase is tied to a 77% rise in deepfakes. The trend comes amid broader digital fraud and growing pressure on banking channels.

What explains the jump in takeover attempts?

The jump in takeover attempts is attributed to a 77% increase in deepfakes, according to Sumsub’s 2025-2026 Identity Fraud Report, cited by Infosertecla. Infosertecla’s coverage says that growth is linked to advanced identity fraud in verification and authentication processes used by financial apps.

According to that account, attackers insert fake videos to bypass security systems and gain access to accounts. The report also places the trend within AI-based deception techniques, including synthetic identities and biometric manipulation through deepfakes.

In that environment, the target is no longer just stolen credentials, but the impersonation of the traits and signals used to validate a user.

How large is the fraud environment in Colombia?

The fraud environment in Colombia is broad. The Police Cyber Center reported 67,216 complaints in the country in 2025. Of that total, 37,084 were for computer-related theft, 13,849 for abusive access to computer systems, 8,446 for personal data violations, 3,763 for website impersonation, and 2,806 for unauthorized transfer of assets.

Those figures help size up the environment in which account takeover attempts and other credential-based and digital-channel fraud schemes operate. At the regional level, Tabulado also reported, based on the Sumsub report, that advanced frauds using deception techniques and AI-generated identities rose 180%.

In that comparison, Colombia stood out for the surge in account takeover attempts driven by deepfakes.

How does this affect banking channels?

Pressure on banking channels intensifies during operational changes or large migrations, as happened during the transfer of 267,000 Itaú Bank customers to Banco de Bogotá. In that context, the bank warned that scam attempts by phone calls, SMS messages, and fake emails tend to increase.

In that statement, Banco de Bogotá also said those forms of financial-entity impersonation have become the most common deception methods among banking users in Colombia. The bank added that a priority for new users is learning to quickly distinguish authentic communications from impersonation attempts, with guidance to verify official channels and reduce fraud risk during the account transition.