iscover ‘Stop, check, reject’: CommBank urges small business to avoid deepfake scams
BusinessCommonwealth Bank has urged small business owners to be vigilant for deepfake scams after their survey identified gaps between confidence and reality in Australians’ AI detection abilities.
A survey by Commonwealth Bank has found that small business owners were over-confident in their ability to identify deepfake scams, underscoring the importance of risk awareness as AI super-charges the scale and sophistication of scams.
CommBank’s research found the average small business owner was somewhat confident that they could recognise a deepfake scam if they encountered one, but had an average accuracy of 42 per cent.
“Only around four in ten small business owners are familiar with deepfake scams, yet scammers are using AI to imitate suppliers, loved ones and even government officials, highlighting the critical role awareness plays in spotting these scams,” David Coote, CommBank’s Queensland general manager of small business banking, said.
“That’s why we’re encouraging small businesses to Stop, Check and Reject. Stop if something looks different. Check any changes to payment details using a verified phone number. And reject anything that doesn’t feel right. These small steps can make a big difference.”
The research found that 41 per cent of small businesses were familiar with deepfake scams and had mostly been targeted via email. Despite this, only 55 per cent had verified their supplier payment details in the past six months.
Jon Soldan, chief executive of payment fraud prevention firm Eftsure, previously told sister brand Accounting Times that impersonation tactics were often used by cyber criminals to extract funds from accounts payable teams. AI was boosting the sophistication of these tactics.
“What we see the most of is vendor impersonation, executive impersonation, where fraudsters are impersonating their suppliers or executives to get accounts payable teams in particular to make fraudulent payments,” Soldan said.
He added that business email compromise, where scammers would impersonate trusted individuals over email, was a common threat. In some cases, criminals used compromised employee email accounts to trick team members.
“A lot of supplier communication happens over email, which isn't a particularly secure channel.”
CommBank’s David Coote warned that AI was making scams like these harder to detect, especially for busy small business owners.
“AI has given scammers new tools that make fraud harder to spot and easier to fall for. We’re seeing deepfake invoices, voice clones of senior executives, and realistic messages that can catch even the most vigilant business owners off guard,” Coote said.
“The most important thing we can do is talk openly about these risks, because awareness is one of our strongest defences.”
Emma Partis
Emma Partis is a journalist at Accountants Daily and Accounting Times, the leading sources of news, insight, and educational content for professionals in the accounting sector. Previously, Emma worked as a News Intern with Bloomberg News' economics and government team in Sydney. She studied econometrics and psychology at UNSW.
