A Systematic Literature Review on How Cybercriminals are Utilizing Deepfakes to Conduct Cyberattacks

Deepfake technology is becoming an increasingly powerful tool for cybercriminals, enabling more convincing and sophisticated cyberattacks. From phishing scams and social engineering to identity fraud and disinformation campaigns, deepfakes manipulate trust in digital communication, leading to financial, psychological, and reputational harm. This systematic literature review examines how deepfakes are being used in cybercrime, the emerging trends, the ethical, legal, and societal challenges they pose, and the gaps in existing research and detection methods.This review explores three key themes guided by core research questions: the emerging trends in deepfake-enabled cybercrime, the broader implications of these threats, and the current limitations in detection and mitigation. It identifies a growing use of multi-modal deepfakes that combine synthetic video, audio, and text, as well as real-time deepfake manipulation that bypasses traditional security measures. It also highlights concerns around privacy violations, reputational damage, and the increasing difficulty of verifying digital evidence in legal proceedings. A lack of standardized regulations and inconsistent policies across jurisdictions further complicate efforts to counteract these attacks.The study finds that research on deepfake cybercrime remains limited, with gaps in real-world case studies, weaknesses in current detection technologies, and a need for more advanced forensic tools. Based on these findings, this review offers recommendations for strengthening cybersecurity defenses, improving public awareness, and fostering collaboration between industry, academia, and policymakers.