AI-Generated Fake IDs Are Being Used to Bypass Crypto Security Measures: Report

Underground website OnlyFake can use AI to generate fake IDs to get around identity security measures, according to 404 Media.

Fake IDs created by AI are being used to bypass security measures at cryptocurrency exchanges, according to a report from 404 Media. 

OnlyFake, an underground website that can pump out realistic-looking fake IDs, has drawn attention for its claims that it uses neural networks to rapidly create the IDs. This development  could have significant ramifications for the cryptocurrency industry. 

404 Media bought a fake ID on the site for $15 and used it, for example, to bypass identity controls at OKX, an exchange that has been involved in past crimes. 

OnlyFake’s owner, who goes by the pseudonym John Wick, also claimed in the report that their IDs could be used to fool identification protection measures at exchanges such as Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase.  

Unchained reached out to each of those exchanges, as well as OKX, for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

False IDs being used to bypass security measures on exchanges isn’t new. In fact, they have been circulated on the Dark Web since at least 2019. But the ease of use and reduced cost provided by AI can help supercharge these efforts and may present a new wave of fraud that exchanges will have to grapple with. 

In a Telegram channel associated with OnlyFake, an admin wrote that the site was against any illegal use of images their site generated. 

“We are against fraud and harming other people,” the admin wrote in the channel. “All generated images on the site are intended for legal use only. We bear no responsibility for how you will further use the images from the generator.”