Sumsub, a global verification and fraud prevention firm, has announced a research partnership with Constructor University in Germany.

The collaboration is the first initiative under Sumsub’s newly launched AI Academic Programme, which aims to develop AI-based solutions to address risks to democratic institutions and digital identities, and to counter synthetic fraud.

Constructor University is recognised as one of Germany’s leading private research institutions with an international outlook.

The partnership will draw on the expertise of Professor Dmitry Vetrov, an AI researcher specialising in Bayesian methods, generative models, and deep learning, and Professor Hilke Brockmann, who leads the AIDE (AI, Democracy and Education) project on the social and ethical impacts of AI.

Sumsub’s Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Vyacheslav Zholudev, is an alumnus of Constructor University, and the company views the initiative as an opportunity both to contribute to the institution and to advance research and talent development in the field of AI and fraud prevention.

The company will fund academic research, scholarships, and open innovation projects.

Students will also be given placements within Sumsub’s product and technical teams, allowing them to work on anti-fraud tools and gain practical skills.

Outcomes of the collaboration are expected to include academic research, open-source models, and published articles to support efforts against AI-driven fraud.

According to Sumsub’s data, deepfake fraud worldwide increased by 700% in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.

In Singapore and Hong Kong, the figures rose by 1,500% and 1,900%, respectively.

Synthetic identity document fraud also grew by 195% globally, and by 233% in the Asia-Pacific region.

“To fight deepfakes effectively, it is crucial to form alliances with top academic minds, which is why this collaboration is so important,  no other player in the market is currently investing in this kind of research at such scale,”

said Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, Head of AI and Machine Learning at Sumsub.

“Over the past two years, deepfake fraud has been scaling rapidly both in quality and quantity, and with the democratisation of AI tools. This partnership will combine research and practical solutions to help society stay ahead of these threats. We’re honoured to collaborate with the brilliant minds at Constructor University and hope this initiative encourages other leading universities to join our Academic Programme, advancing research and education to combat AI fraud.”

“This collaboration brings together academia and industry to tackle some of today’s most pressing challenges. We are excited to work with Sumsub to explore these challenges through thorough academic research and practical work,”

said Dmitry Vetrov, Professor of Computer Science at Constructor University.

“Combining our diverse academic expertise with Sumsub’s leadership, we aim to create AI solutions that combat fraud and promote transparency, fairness, and trust in digital systems affecting millions.”

The challenge of detecting deepfakes remains significant due to their increasingly convincing nature.

Sumsub’s research team has contributed to the academic field, with peer-reviewed work by Viacheslav Pirogov accepted at ICML 2025 (International Conference on Machine Learning).

His papers on deepfake detection and zero-shot vision-language models reflect the company’s involvement in both technology development and academic research.

Sumsub intends to establish further partnerships with academic institutions internationally as part of its wider efforts to respond to evolving forms of digital fraud.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by freepik