10-22-2026 
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TL;DR: The U.S. has ordered DeepSeek products removed from federal civilian agency systems, while Interpol launches a deepfake scam campaign. A FICO survey shows that APAC banks view AI as a top fraud-fighting tool, though privacy and regulatory concerns slow adoption.
Key Takeaways:
- DHS ordered the removal of DeepSeek products from federal civilian agency systems and banned new purchases.
- The ban follows national security concerns and a September 2025 NIST CAISI evaluation that flagged DeepSeek’s security vulnerabilities and political bias.
- Interpol’s campaign uses AI-generated videos to teach the public about deepfake scams.
- Deepfakes account for one in five biometric fraud attempts, and injection attacks rose 40% year over year, per Entrust.
- 60% of surveyed APAC banking executives see fraud detection as generative AI’s biggest near-term gain.
Global law enforcement agencies are scrambling to keep up with development in artificial intelligence (AI), as the United States Homeland Security moves to block Chinese-made products and Interpol warns of AI deepfakes. However, a new survey shows that business leaders see the technology’s potential to prevent fraud, even if regulatory and governance challenges remain.
US bans DeepSeek from civilian agency systems
The United States Department of Homeland Security has ordered the removal of DeepSeek products from federal civilian agency IT systems.
The order, filed on October 19 by Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival II, includes DeepSeek affiliates and third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek implementations, while prohibiting affected agencies from making new purchases.
DeepSeek is the Chinese AI company that launched onto the world stage in January 2025, when its R1 reasoning model stunned Silicon Valley by offering competitive performance at a fraction of the reported development cost of leading U.S. AI systems. Founded in 2023 and backed by Chinese hedge fund High-Flyer, the Hangzhou-based startup challenged assumptions about the computing power and investment needed to compete in advanced AI, triggering a sharp sell-off in technology stocks and wiping billions of dollars from Nvidia’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) market value.
U.S. President Donald Trump called the breakthrough a “wake-up call” for the U.S. technology industry, urging American companies to compete more aggressively.
Meanwhile, DeepSeek’s rapid rise also intensified national security concerns in Washington over data privacy, potential access by Chinese authorities, and the possibility of sensitive information being transferred to China. In June 2025, Reuters reported that the U.S. government had reportedly been assessing the company’s links to Beijing since its inception.
The following month, White House unveiled its ‘AI Action Plan,’ aimed at maintaining U.S. dominance of the space.
“As our global competitors race to exploit these technologies, it is a national security imperative for the United States to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance,” said Trump.
In September 2025, the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published an evaluation of AI models that raised further concerns about DeepSeek’s security vulnerabilities and political bias.
In the light of such concerns, the Trump administration and lawmakers have pursued tighter restrictions, while federal agencies and several states have limited its use on government devices. The latest Homeland Security order marks a continuation and escalation of this crackdown.
While the U.S. focuses on combating the perceived threat of Chinese AI, recent international efforts are focusing on more tangible risks posed by the technology, namely, AI deepfake scammers.
Interpol takes aim at deepfakes
The International Criminal Police Organization, also known as Interpol, has launched a new awareness campaign to highlight the growing risk posed by crimes that use AI-generated or AI-altered media to scam members of the public.
The campaign, announced on October 19, features three short videos, themselves AI-generated, depicting how synthetic media, commonly known as ‘deepfakes’, can be used in scams.
“Generative AI applications and the large language models that power them are becoming more sophisticated by the day, no longer requiring significant technical skills or investment,” Interpol said. “As well as creating hyper realistic avatars with human-like language skills, these tools can now convincingly reproduce the face or voice of a real person using a small amount of content found online.”
According to the international police agency, despite their growing prevalence, public understanding of how deepfakes can be used in crime remains low, with synthetic media crime increasingly targeting private citizens through investment scams, impersonation, romance scams—often referred to as “pig butchering”—sextortion, deepfake pornography, and disinformation.
Earlier this year, Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) cybersecurity firm, Mandiant, warned that North Korean “threat actors” were evolving their techniques targeting digital currency and decentralized finance (DeFi), including the use of AI–generated deepfakes to deceive victims in fake Zoom videos.
More recently, a 2026 report by the security firm Entrust examined more than 1 billion identity verification events across 195 countries and found that deepfakes accounted for 1 in 5 biometric fraud attempts. On top of that, injection attacks—attempts to inject manipulated images or video directly into the system, bypassing live capture—increased 40% year over year.
“AI is erasing the tell-tale signs of a scam. Spelling mistakes, branding inconsistencies, clumsy formatting: these red flags are fast becoming a thing of the past,” warned Toshinobu Yasuhira, Director of the Interpol Innovation Centre, when unveiling the new campaign. “Anyone can fall victim to these scams, regardless of age, region, or sector.”
He added that “At Interpol, our work on this topic is designed to give law enforcement and the public the knowledge and resources they need to recognize these threats and act before the damage is done.”
The campaign videos that accompanied the launch were designed to promote the message, “Wait. Validate. Don’t take the bait,” with Interpol urging the public to consider a number of red flags, including unsolicited contact, urgency, emotional manipulation, unusual payment methods, and a fast-moving virtual relationship.
The police agency also offered some advice, such as staying calm and skeptical, independently verifying unsolicited calls, establishing ‘safe words’ with friends and family, and updating software.
The new campaign is a public-facing awareness component of the agency’s broader ‘Project SynthWave PLUS’, which Interpol launched in March 2026 to advance global law enforcement’s ability to counter synthetic media threats, particularly in the Southeast Asian region.
Fortunately, while AI may be increasing or exacerbating some threat vectors, it is also presenting new opportunities for addressing threats, old and new.
APAC banks favor AI fraud detection
Analytics firm FICO recently published the results of a survey of Asia-Pacific executives, in which 60% saw fraud and scam detection as the area where generative AI could deliver the largest operational improvements over the next 12 months. However, 42% cited data privacy and protection as the biggest barrier to adoption.
The data, published by TNGlobal on October 16, was gathered by FICO during an executive poll at its Asia Pacific Banking Leaders Forum, held in Bali in August 2026, during which it captured responses from 51 senior executives and C-suite leaders from leading banks across the APAC region.
The survey identified privacy, regulation, and explainability as the primary concerns shaping adoption. Specifically, the poll found that 77% considered it extremely important for AI tools used by banks to be built for financial services, while the other 23% described specialization as somewhat important.
“Financial institutions operate under regulatory scrutiny that most consumer technology companies don’t face,” said Dattu Kompella, managing director in APAC for FICO, as reported by Australian Fintech on October 16. “Banks need AI models that are explainable, auditable and designed from the ground up for compliance. Off-the-shelf consumer AI doesn’t meet that bar.”
According to the survey, actual deployment of AI models remains low, but could grow substantially in the near future: only 26% of banking respondents reported that task-specific AI models were already deployed, while 46% anticipated deployment within one to two years.
When asked about barriers to AI adoption, banking leaders identified regulatory and governance concerns as the primary obstacles, not technology or cost; data privacy and security emerged as the top concern, cited by 42% of respondents, while 21% identified regulatory and compliance risk as their biggest worry, and 21% flagged model transparency and explainability as critical. Just 16% cited computing cost or infrastructure as a barrier.
“The barriers aren’t about capability or price. Banks are concerned about trust, auditability and the ability to explain decisions to regulators,” Kompella said. “That’s exactly why purpose-built AI for financial services matters. It’s designed with those constraints in mind from day one.”
The FICO survey demonstrates that the narrative around AI technology is not so black-and-white. Just as global authorities move to address the risks posed by AI, there remains an acknowledgment from world and business leaders alike that the technology can be a force for good in the right hands.
FAQs:
Why did the U.S. ban DeepSeek?
Homeland Security cited national security concerns, including data privacy and possible Chinese government access. The order removes DeepSeek products from federal civilian agency systems and bars new purchases.
What is DeepSeek?
A Hangzhou-based Chinese AI company founded in 2023 and backed by High-Flyer.
What is Interpol’s deepfake campaign?
Announced on October 19, it uses three AI-generated videos to show how deepfake scams work. Its message is “Wait. Validate. Don’t take the bait.”
How do I spot a deepfake scam?
Watch for unsolicited contact, urgency, emotional manipulation, unusual payment methods, and fast-moving online relationships. Verify calls independently and set safe words with family.
How common are deepfakes in fraud?
Entrust’s 2026 report found that deepfakes accounted for one in five biometric fraud attempts. Injection attacks rose 40% year over year.
Can AI help banks stop fraud?
Yes. In FICO’s survey, 60% of APAC banking executives said fraud and scam detection is where generative AI could help most over the next 12 months.
What is stopping banks from adopting AI?
Mainly regulation and governance. Data privacy was the top barrier at 42%, while only 16% cited computing cost.
How many banks already use AI models?
Only 26% have deployed task-specific AI models. Another 46% expect to be within one to two years.
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