1 in 16 documents flagged as fraudulent: Inside our 2026 report

Document fraud has existed as long as documents have been used to establish trust. What makes this moment different is the scale and speed at which exploitation can happen.

To understand how the landscape is shifting, we analyzed millions of documents processed across hundreds of financial institutions in 2025, surveyed 90 fraud and risk leaders, and interviewed 15 practitioners — from chief risk officers and fraud managers to financial crimes detectives and industry experts.

The result is the 2026 State of Document Fraud Report: a comprehensive look at where document fraud stands today, how AI is changing the game for both sides, and what the most effective fraud teams are doing differently.

Here's some of what we found

Approximately 6% of all documents processed across our network were flagged as fraudulent in 2025. That means roughly 1 in 16 documents showing signs of manipulation, fabrication, or misrepresentation. For an organization processing 10,000 loan applications per year with three documents each, that's over 1,800 potentially fraudulent documents annually.

AI-generated document fraud increased nearly fivefold between April and December 2025. While it still comprised less than 5% of total fraudulent documents detected, its rapid growth, combined with widespread access to generative tools, makes it a growing concern. In fact, 98% of fraud leaders we surveyed identified AI-enabled document fraud as a top risk heading into 2026.

But AI isn't the only driver. Template-based fraud remains a high-volume threat: 1 in 5 flagged documents in 2025 showed signs of template-based fraud, up from 1 in 14 in 2024. A growing ecosystem of websites now sells editable bank statements, pay stubs, and utility bills for as little as $10 (no technical skills required).

What's inside the report

The report is organized into four sections:

• By the Numbers examines the scale and shape of document fraud today: which document types carry the highest risk, what fraudsters are actually editing, and where verification workflows are most vulnerable.
• The AI Arms Race explores how generative AI is reshaping document fraud on both sides, from AI-generated fakes to the detection tools fraud teams are deploying to fight back.
• The Cost of Inaction breaks down why legacy approaches are failing, and how the operational burden of manual review creates compounding risk.
• Winning Strategies highlights what the most effective fraud teams are doing differently, from human-AI collaboration to layered defenses and industry-wide intelligence sharing.

Hear from practitioners on the front lines

Throughout the report, you'll hear directly from fraud fighters who are navigating these challenges daily — including perspectives from BCU, Coast, Rapid Finance, Discover, BHG Financial, Logix Federal Credit Union, America's Credit Union, Kinecta, Nymbus, Point Predictive, Alloy, and CU Fight Fraud.

Their insights are candid, practical, and grounded in real operational experience.

Get the full 2026 State of Document Fraud report

Whether you're a fraud analyst, risk leader, or executive trying to understand where to invest, this report is designed to help you benchmark your approach and identify opportunities to strengthen your defenses.

Download the 2026 State of Document Fraud Report today, or request a free trial to see what our AI will find in your documents.