Synthetic Identities and Agentic Bots Posing as Human Contribute to 8% Global Rise in Fraud Attacks - LexisNexis Risk Solutions
Rhea-AI Summary
LexisNexis Risk Solutions (RELX) released its 2026 Cybercrime Report on April 8, 2026. The report analyzed 116 billion online transactions from January–December 2025 and found an 8% global rise in fraud rates, driven by synthetic identity growth, bot activity and spikes in ecommerce and gaming attacks.
Key metrics: synthetic fraud at 11% (eight-fold YoY), agentic traffic up 450%, malicious bot attacks up 59%, ecommerce attacks +64% and login attack rate +216%.
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
Positive
- 116 billion transactions analyzed in 2025
- Synthetic fraud now 11% of frauds (fastest growth)
- Agentic traffic surged 450% in 2025
Negative
- Global fraud rates rose by 8% year-over-year
- Login attack rates increased 216%, risking account takeover
- Ecommerce attack rate grew 64% year-over-year
News Market Reaction – RELX
On the day this news was published, RELX gained 1.71%, reflecting a mild positive market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
RELX fell 0.74% with mixed peer moves: TRI -2.35%, CTAS -1.02%, GPN -2.76% versus CPRT +1.88% and RBA +0.14%, suggesting stock-specific rather than broad sector action.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 05 | Integration expansion | Positive | +2.9% | Expanded Epic integration to add identity verification to Connection Hub. |
| Mar 05 | Industry fraud study | Positive | +2.9% | Released online gaming fraud and identity industry pulse for North America. |
| Feb 24 | MarketScape leadership | Positive | +2.4% | Named Leader in IDC MarketScape for U.S. provider data management. |
| Feb 19 | AI platform launch | Positive | +1.4% | Launched AI-powered identity management platform for healthcare. |
| Feb 18 | Insurance demand data | Positive | +0.3% | Reported record U.S. auto insurance shopping and new business growth. |
Recent product and recognition news generally aligned with modest positive price reactions.
Over recent months, RELX-linked LexisNexis Risk Solutions news has focused on fraud prevention, identity management and data leadership. On Feb 18, 2026, strong auto insurance shopping metrics saw a 0.33% move. A new AI-powered identity platform on Feb 19 coincided with a 1.44% gain. An IDC MarketScape leadership designation on Feb 24 and March 5 fraud/gaming reports saw moves of 2.36% and 2.93%. Today’s cybercrime report continues that theme of highlighting fraud trends and risk capabilities.
Market Pulse Summary
This announcement details escalating cybercrime, including an 8% global fraud rate rise, a 64% increase in ecommerce fraud attacks and a 450% jump in agentic traffic. For RELX, it reinforces LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ role in monitoring over 116 billion transactions and tracking threats such as synthetic identity fraud. Investors may track how these trends intersect with prior RELX initiatives in identity verification, AI-driven fraud detection, and cross-industry data partnerships highlighted in recent months.
Key Terms
synthetic identity fraud financial
account takeover financial
first-party fraud financial
bot-driven attacks technical
agentic traffic technical
digital identity technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
Latest Cybercrime Report reveals rapid growth in synthetic identity fraud, bot-driven attacks and account takeover activity across global markets while first party fraud remains the most reported fraud type
Key takeaways from the 2026 LexisNexis Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report:
- First-party fraud reigns: Customers defrauding organizations remains the leading source of fraud globally for the second year running, comprising almost two in five (
38.3% ) reported frauds. This varies significantly by region: Over half (51.7% ) of fraud in EMEA is first-party fraud, compared to less than10% inLatin America , where synthetic identity fraud (48.3% ) is far more prevalent. - Significant rise in synthetic fraud: More than one in ten frauds (
11% ) now involve a synthetic identity, representing an eight-fold global increase year over year and making it the fastest growing fraud type globally. Synthetic fraud represents a shift in tactics away from short-term opportunism to long-term goals, since they can take months to properly establish. Fraudsters stitch together new identities from various stolen identity attributes and use them to commit a variety of crimes. With no victim to immediately raise the alarm and high potential returns, synthetic fraud is proving attractive to fraudsters globally, particularly in LATAM (48.3% share). - Agentic traffic rises
450% between January and December 2025: This traffic was mainly linked to credit card payments and logins at gaming and gambling sites. While there is no indication of malicious intent, these agents present a new challenge for fraud detection longer term, introducing a third type of digital interaction in addition to genuine human transactions and traditional bots carrying out a defined instruction set. - Malicious 'bad' bots are getting better at impersonating people: Bots can now mimic genuine human actions, such as how we move a cursor around a login screen, with a high degree of plausibility to fool the latest behavioral fraud detection tools. Last year saw a significant (
59% ) rise in malicious bot attacks as criminals test and deploy these sophisticated tools, with significant peaks seen throughout March and April and again in August 2025. - Fraudsters target ecommerce and online betting accounts: The ecommerce fraud attack rate grew
64% year over year and the attack rate at login where fraudsters work to gain control of customer accounts jumped216% . Growth occurred across all regions, particularly in the US,Canada and APAC. Gaming and gambling sites experienced a notable76% rise in global attack rate in 2025.
"Fraud continues to evolve at pace with digital innovation," said Stephen Topliss, vice president of fraud and identity at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "While organizations are strengthening defenses across channels, cybercriminal networks are scaling automation, shifting tactics and probing for any available weaknesses across the digital customer journey. Increasingly, attackers rely on advanced bots and AI-driven tools to mimic human behavior and test defenses with unprecedented speed and accuracy."
Regional fraud trends highlight evolving global threat patterns
North America experienced periodic spikes in ecommerce fraud activity during the year, although the overall attack rate remained steady at roughly2.2% . Fraud attacks most frequently target login events and ecommerce platforms.- EMEA's attack rate increased significantly for the first time in several years, rising
27% year over year, largely driven by account takeover attempts as fraudsters target authentication weaknesses across digital services. - APAC continued to see strong digital transaction growth alongside rising fraud activity, with the attack rate increasing to
1.7% . Desktop browser attacks rose sharply as fraudsters deployed more sophisticated automation tools. - LATAM fraud patterns remained diverse across industries, though the region saw growing concerns around synthetic identity fraud linked to expanding digital services and regulated online gaming markets.
Topliss continued, "Cybercriminals are experimenting with the same technologies that are transforming digital commerce and organizations must prepare for a future where both legitimate users and malicious actors rely on automated agents to interact online. Those that succeed must be able to confidently distinguish between humans, bots and agents as well as determining intent. We continue to see increasing collaboration between organizations with global digital intelligence, advanced analytics and strong cross-industry partnerships. Organizations that share risk intelligence are best positioned to protect consumers and build trust in the digital economy."
Download a copy of LexisNexis® Risk Solutions' Cybercrime Report: Evolving Threats Beneath the Surface.
Methodology: The LexisNexis Risk Solutions Cybercrime Report analyzes over 116 billion transactions through its LexisNexis Digital Identity Network between January and December 2025. It identifies fraud attempts during near real-time analysis of consumer interactions across the online journey, from new account creations, logins and payments to non-core transactions such as password resets and transfers.
About LexisNexis Risk Solutions
LexisNexis® Risk Solutions leverages the power of data, advanced analytics platforms and integrated AI solutions to provide insights that help businesses across multiple industries and governmental entities reduce risk and improve decisions to benefit people around the globe. Headquartered in metro
Media Contact:
Mike Normansell
Senior Manager, Global Communications
mike.normansell@lexisnexisrisk.com
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