According to research, white-collar criminals are causing increasing damage and becoming more professional thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). So-called ‘social engineering’, an attempted fraud in which perpetrators manipulate people, is particularly popular, an analysis by credit insurer Allianz Trade showed on Tuesday. But just like before, our own employees also cause a lot of damage.
“The uncomfortable truth for companies remains: the weak point is the people, and their own employees continue to cause the most and – at least until 2023 – the greatest damage,” says Marie-Christine Kragh, expert at Allianz Trade.
External perpetrators divert payment and goods flows into payment and order fraud. The so-called “fake president” scam involves posing as so-called bosses and instructing employees to transfer sums of money to fraudulent accounts for so-called business transactions. The number of cases involving these crimes increased by 17 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, and the volume of claims increased by 19 percent. With the ‘fake president’ method, cases rose by almost a third.
“We expect corporate claims volumes to more than double by 2024,” said Kragh, Global Head of Fidelity Insurance at Allianz Trade. This suggests that the fraudsters have further professionalized their scams thanks to AI tools – with an even more targeted approach to employees and companies.
With the rapid development of AI tools, “deepfakes” are likely to become an increasing threat to businesses in the future. “A few years ago, voice cloning was something for absolute specialists and the quality was often questionable,” explains Tom Alby, responsible for digital transformation at Allianz Trade in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “Thanks to AI tools, this is now available ready-made at the touch of a button.” This opens up completely new horizons for fraudsters – “they need fewer and fewer skills for really well-executed attacks.”
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
