How to spot impersonations, scams and deepfakes

As cyber threats and fraud scams become more sophisticated, it’s getting harder to tell if an email, text, phone call, or even a video call is genuine. Criminals are now using advanced technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to create convincing fake audio, video, and images—known as “deepfakes”—to trick people into sharing personal information or sending money.

Cyber threats and fraud scams annually drive record monetary losses due to their sophisticated nature—in 2025, they amounted to $20.9 billion in losses¹, a 26% increase over 2024. The average loss of each incident amounted to $20.7 thousand.

• Deepfakes: Scammers use AI to create fake videos or audio that appear to be from trusted people, such as company leaders or family members. In recent news, an individual was tricked into sending money after a video call with what seemed to be their company’s senior leaders—only to find out later it was a deepfake.

• Impersonation Scams: Fraudsters may pretend to be bank employees or government officials, often sounding very convincing and demanding immediate action or payment.

• Emotional Extortion: Some scams involve calls that sound like a family member in distress, pressuring you to send money or share sensitive information.

How to Protect Yourself:

• Pause and verify: If you receive a request for payment or sensitive information, take a moment to validate it. Contact a trusted person or use official contact information from the organization’s legitimate website to confirm the request.

• Don’t trust caller ID or email addresses: Scammers can make their messages look genuine. If you’re unsure, hang up and call back using a number from an official source, like your bank statement or the company’s website.
  • J.P. Morgan will never ask you for a one-time passcode.
  • If someone claims to be a government official, validate their identity through another channel.
  • If you get a call about a family emergency, check with another family member or use a pre-arranged “safe word.”

• Be cautious with links and attachments: Don’t click on links or open attachments from unknown sources. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Always type website addresses directly into your browser instead of using provided links.

• Limit what you share online: The less personal information you post on social media, the harder it is for scammers to target you.

• Strengthen your security: Use strong, unique passwords, enable two-factor authentication, and keep your devices and software up to date.

By staying alert and following these best practices, you can help protect yourself and your accounts from evolving cyber threats.

We can help 

J.P. Morgan takes security very seriously, and continues to invest in the latest technology to help thwart attacks in the ever-evolving threat landscape by using multi-layered approaches to authenticate our clients’ identities, which include, but are not limited to, voice biometrics, mobile device in-app verification and security questions. We will never authenticate a client via one method alone.

To learn more about how you can protect yourself and your accounts, reach out to your J.P. Morgan Banker and team. They can help you become more secure.

¹ https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf