71% of Billion-Dollar Firms Face Agent Identity Threats

Featured image for the PYMNTS Intelligence and Trulioo April 2026 edition of the Digital Identity Framework report Agent-driven identity threats are rising as enterprises scale, increasing fraud risk, onboarding friction and verification challenges.

Agent-driven identity threats are becoming a defining challenge for enterprises as they scale revenue and expand across markets, increasing fraud risk and customer friction. “Scale Amplification: How Revenue Amplifies Agent-Driven Identity,” a collaboration between PYMNTS Intelligence and Trulioo, examines how digital identity challenges evolve as companies scale, amplifying fraud risk and customer friction. Its central finding is that identity verification is no longer just a compliance checkpoint. It has become a business issue that affects conversion, trust, customer retention and revenue. These agent-driven identity threats are reshaping how enterprises approach fraud prevention and customer onboarding.

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    As firms expand across products, channels and geographies, they face a broader mix of threats, including deepfakes, AI-generated identity documents, automated scraping and other agent-driven attacks. These risks are especially pronounced for the largest companies, which are more likely than smaller firms to report know your agent (KYA) threats, along with financial and operational damage that can follow.

    Larger firms are more likely to manage identity processes in-house, often to gain more control, but internal-only approaches can leave meaningful gaps. Companies relying solely on internal teams report the highest rates of KYA incidents and losses. At the same time, bigger firms are more likely to report rising false positives, higher decline rates and onboarding friction that can turn away legitimate customers. In other words, the challenge is not only to stop fraud but to do so without creating so much friction that customers abandon the process.

    In an economy shaped by bots, agents and AI-powered attacks, digital identity is a core growth capability. Companies that get it right can protect themselves while still delivering smooth customer experiences. Companies that get it wrong risk slower growth, missed revenue and weaker trust.

    In an economy shaped by AI and automation, agent-driven identity threats are a growth constraint.

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      In “Scale Amplification: How Revenue Amplifies Agent-Driven Identity,” learn how:

      • The mix of identity threats changes as revenue grows. Larger firms are more likely to encounter deepfakes, AI-generated documents and automated scraping, while smaller firms are more often affected by synthetic identity fraud.
      • Governance choices shape security outcomes. The findings show that companies relying only on internal teams for identity management report more KYA incidents than those using hybrid or third-party models.
      • Identity friction can weaken growth even when it blocks bad actors. The report explains how false positives, onboarding delays and transaction declines can reduce conversion and damage the customer experience as firms scale.

      About the Report

      Scale Amplification: How Revenue Amplifies Agent-Driven Identity” is based on a survey of 350 global companies conducted from Aug. 1 to Sept. 10, 2025. The report explores the effectiveness of digital identity systems in preventing fraud and driving growth. Industries surveyed included financial services, gig platforms, online marketplaces, retail trade, software platforms, and travel and hospitality. Companies operate in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union and other European countries, China, India, Japan and other Asia-Pacific countries, the Middle East, Australia/New Zealand, Africa, and Mexico and other Latin American countries. Forty-two percent reported revenues of $50 million to less than $250 million; 36% reported revenues of $250 million to less than $1 billion; and 22% reported revenues of $1 billion or more.