Double-Edged AI: Boosting Security, Fueling Deepfake Fraud-Calls Grow for Awareness and Laws

AI in Finance: Efficiency Meets New Fraud Risks

AI is no longer just back-office plumbing. It speeds up transactions, boosts detection accuracy, and builds trust-until it's misused.

Experts warn that AI-driven fraud is escalating. Losses in the United States have surged, and the UK faced damages exceeding one billion pounds in 2024, with deepfakes adding a dangerous layer to classic scams.

As one industry voice put it, AI is a double-edged sword: used well, it reinforces security and trust; used carelessly, it increases exposure to financial fraud and cybercrime.

Where AI Helps Finance Teams

• Real-time anomaly detection for payments and expense flows
• Faster KYC, sanctions screening, and continuous AML monitoring
• Behavioral analytics that spot unusual account activity
• Automated reconciliations and data quality checks

Where AI Raises Exposure

• Deepfake voice/video "CFO fraud" and executive impersonation
• Synthetic IDs and forged documents that bypass weak onboarding
• Automated phishing and social engineering at scale
• Malware, credential theft, and fake vendor portals generated with AI

Red Flags for CFOs, Controllers, and Treasury

• Urgent payment requests with new or changed beneficiary details
• Voice that sounds like an executive but from an unknown number or app
• Supplier bank changes sent only by email and pushed for same-day use
• Invoices that look right but don't match PO, delivery, or metadata
• Meeting links or file shares that force logins on unfamiliar domains

Controls That Reduce Risk Now

• Call-back verification: approve changes and high-value payments via a verified phone number on file
• Dual approvals: set clear thresholds for maker-checker sign-off
• Vendor onboarding: liveness checks, document verification, and bank ownership validation
• Payment analytics: velocity limits, beneficiary clustering, and unusual timing alerts
• Email security: enforce SPF, DKIM, and DMARC with reject policies
• Media verification: train staff to spot deepfake cues; use detection tools where feasible
• Access control: least privilege, MFA everywhere, and session monitoring
• Incident response: playbooks for BEC, wire recall steps, and 24/7 contacts

Governance, Law, and Awareness

Finance leaders are calling for stronger public awareness and enforceable legislation to protect individuals and institutions and promote proper use of AI. AI is a pillar of modern finance and services, but without monitoring and clear guardrails, it becomes a tool for fraudsters.

AI already accelerates legitimate transactions and improves fraud detection. The task now is to harden controls while educating staff, clients, and suppliers.

30-60-90 Day Action Plan

• 30 days: Map payment flows and approval paths, add mandatory call-backs, run a focused phishing/deepfake simulation.
• 60 days: Enforce DMARC reject, deploy anomaly detection on payments, centralize vendor changes in a secure portal.
• 90 days: Run a tabletop exercise for executive-impersonation and wire fraud, review cyber insurance wording, and report quarterly fraud KPIs to the board.

Training and Useful References

Brief your team on AI-enabled scams and keep procedures simple, testable, and auditable.

• FBI IC3 Internet Crime Report for trends and loss patterns
• FTC guidance on imposter scams for practical prevention steps

Upskill Your Finance Team on AI

If you're building AI literacy across finance, explore practical tools and learning paths:

• AI tools for finance that support detection, forecasting, and automation
• Courses by job to align training with finance roles

Bottom Line

Use AI to speed decisions and catch fraud earlier, but assume attackers use it too. Tighten verification, raise awareness, and keep legislation and policy in step with the technology. That balance is how finance teams protect capital and maintain trust.