Identity theft will continue to rise in 2025. According to the Better Business Bureau of Missouri (BBB), it received over 16,000 identity theft complaints in the past three years. Scammers are “increasingly using advanced tactics such as artificial intelligence to exploit victims.”

The BBB notes that threat actors are taking over social media accounts to solicit money and “impersonating individuals to rent apartments or open credit cards.”

According to Which?, fraud prevention service Cifas reports the continuing rise of identity theft and fraud, and artificial intelligence (AI) is “fuelling [the] identity fraud increase.” Cases of account takeover “drastically increased by 76% in 2024.” Over half of these cases involved threat actors hijacking mobile telephone accounts, and SIM swap fraud increased by a whopping 1,055%. Threat actors use AI more frequently in cases of false applications, where it assists “with the speed, sophistication and scale of false documentation, as well as aiding the ability to pass verification checks.”

Identity theft will continue to rise, so preventative measures, such as those outlined by the BBB, Identitytheft.org, and the FTC, will hopefully prevent victimization. If you become a victim, the FTC has free helpful resources to consider.