AI-fuelled crime drives illicit funds to $4.4 trillion

Illicit financial activity reached an estimated $4.4 trillion in 2025, according to new research from Nasdaq Verafin. The firm also estimates global losses of $579.4 billion from fraud scams and bank fraud schemes.

The findings are detailed in Nasdaq Verafin's 2026 Global Financial Crime Report, based on the firm's data modelling, a survey of more than 500 financial crime professionals, and interviews with senior executives. This is the second edition in the series.

Nasdaq Verafin estimates illicit activity has increased by $1.3 trillion since 2023, a compound annual growth rate of 19.2% over two years.

The figures span multiple crime categories that generate proceeds moving through the financial system. Drug trafficking-related activity is estimated at $1.1 trillion, with annualised growth of 17.1%. Human trafficking-related illicit flows are estimated at $528.5 billion, with annualised growth of 23.5%.

Terrorist financing is smaller in absolute terms but remains significant given the nature of the risk. The report estimates it at $16.2 billion, with annualised growth of 18.8%.

Fraud losses

The report also estimates direct global losses from fraud scams and bank fraud schemes at $579.4 billion.

Within that total, losses from fraud scams reached $62 billion and grew at a compound annual growth rate of 19.3% over the past two years. Scam losses are rising at more than twice the rate of bank fraud, the report found.

It links the rise in scams to criminal adoption of artificial intelligence, alongside other technological advances used to exploit vulnerabilities in the financial system.

Survey results suggest widespread concern about this trend. The report says 90% of financial crime professionals surveyed have seen an increase in AI-driven attacks at their institution over the past two years.

AI and coordination

Nasdaq Verafin describes the combination of higher volumes, faster-evolving techniques, and broader use of AI as a systemic challenge for banks and other financial institutions.

"We are currently in the midst of a full-blown financial crime crisis, powered by criminal networks that are leveraging AI to super-charge scam playbooks and operating with the scale and coordination of multinational corporations," said Stephanie Champion, Executive Vice President and Head of Nasdaq Verafin.

Champion said the same technology criminals deploy could also become a key tool for defenders.

"While AI has emerged as a key tool for criminals, the industry recognises the potential of the technology to become its most valuable asset in the fight against financial crime. Cutting-edge technology, combined with improved public-private and private-private collaboration, creates a network effect, magnifying the reach of our collective efforts and helping remove criminals from the financial system for good," she said.

The report positions financial institutions as central to detecting and disrupting illicit flows, while noting that banks cannot tackle the problem alone. It calls for coordinated action across sectors that are part of, or exposed to, the financial crime ecosystem.

It also includes spotlights on organisations it describes as examples of effective coordination, presented as a blueprint for collaboration between public and private bodies and across financial institutions and industries.

UNODC pledge

Alongside the report, Nasdaq Verafin announced a pledge related to work with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on financial crime and fraud, focused on mobilising private sector collaboration.

The firm plans a series of workshops and roundtables for private sector leaders involved in efforts against financial crime. Sessions will focus on emerging threats and steps to improve cross-sector collaboration on fraud, scams, and money laundering.

The programme begins with an in-person summit on 20 October at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York.

Method and partners

Nasdaq Verafin produced the report in collaboration with Celent and Oliver Wyman, using a custom data model built from public and private sources to estimate the scale of global financial crime.

Nasdaq Verafin sells financial crime management software used for fraud detection, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing compliance, high-risk customer management, sanctions screening, and information sharing. More than 2,750 financial institutions use its products, representing $11 trillion in collective assets.

The next milestone for the initiative is the New York summit, the first in a planned series of private sector convenings focused on financial crime and fraud.