With the evolution of technology, new types of fraud emerge. While most workplaces are accustomed to the dangers of email fraud, there’s a new threat surfacing in the form of deepfake fraud.
To defend your business from deepfake fraud, you need to have a basic understanding of the subject. Once you know what a deepfake is, how the technology works, and what danger signs to look for, you can rest assured that your company is secure.
Deepfakes: The Basics
Simply put, a deepfake is a piece of media that creates an artificial impersonation of someone. Deepfake technology overlays images, videos, or voice recordings with AI-generated information that appears or sounds almost identical to someone’s likeness. This can be extremely dangerous.
How Deepfakes Threaten Your Business
While you might be familiar with deepfakes used to impersonate celebrities or create viral videos, this technology is far from harmless. When someone impersonates your manager or the CEO of your company through a phone call or a video, it can result in a security threat.
The Different Types of Deepfake Fraud
As criminals grow more accustomed to using deepfake technology, businesses have to become mindful about what security measures they have in place. Deepfakes result in identity theft, misinformation, and extortion.
Here are some types of deepfake fraud:
● Ghost Fraud: Ghost fraud is when a scammer takes the identity of a diseased person and mimics them to acquire money.
● Synthetic Identity Fraud: Synthetic identity fraud stitches together information and the identities of multiple people to create an individual that doesn’t exist. Using this synthetic identity, a criminal can open bank accounts and pursue financial gain.
● New Account Fraud: When criminals take advantage of new account fraud, they use their fraudulent identity to open new accounts and take out loans without facing consequences.
Keeping Your Business Secure
Since most people aren’t familiar with the dangers of deepfake fraud, scammers can catch unassuming businesses off guard. To prevent your information from being compromised, you need to educate yourself, your employees, and stay vigilant for signs of danger.
Detecting Deepfake Fraud
When you receive a phone call or a video from a colleague or superior asking for sensitive information, you have cause to be suspicious. To avoid falling for an imposter’s trap, the warning signs you need to look out for include: robotic voice tones, unnatural eye movement, out-of-sync lip motions, and strange shifts in lighting or skin tone.
If you spot or hear any of the red flags mentioned above, have the person under suspicion confirm their identity through another channel. You can text them from a confirmed phone number or through your work’s messaging system. Take whatever measures are necessary to protect your business.
While deepfakes pose a significant threat to businesses everywhere, by keeping up to date on the latest technology, we can keep ourselves and others safe. Just stay on the lookout for deepfake fraud and its warning signs. For more information on the subject of deepfake fraud, take a look at the infographic below.
