Technology is a tool meant to help you do more. It should be the wind in your sails, but the same tools are now being used to build something truly unsettling: the deepfake.
We have entered an era where you cannot necessarily trust your eyes or ears during a business call. This isn't about celebrity parodies anymore; it is being weaponized to bypass security and drain bank accounts by making a lie look and sound like the absolute truth.
What Exactly is a Deepfake?
A deepfake is a piece of media—an image, audio clip, or video—digitally altered or created from scratch using AI to misrepresent someone.
It involves entrusting a computer to learn every quirk of a face or voice and then applying that data to a different person. While the math behind it involves complex neural networks, the result is straightforward: it makes a scammer look and sound like a trusted authority figure.
Three Ways Deepfakes Target Your Business Today
This is not future technology that will hit your office years from now. These attacks are happening right now. Here are three concrete examples of how this is used against businesses:
The Voice of Authority Audio Scam
Scammers only need about 30 seconds of audio—often pulled from a public video or social media clip—to clone a voice perfectly. A staff member might receive a phone call that sounds exactly like a business owner or manager. The cadence and tone are identical. The caller might claim they are in a meeting and forgot to authorize an urgent wire transfer for a new vendor. Since the voice is familiar, the employee may skip verification steps and send the funds.
The Video Conference Ambush
This is one of the most sophisticated moves in current cybercrime. A group of employees joins a scheduled video call and sees their CFO or executive on the screen. The caller might claim they have a poor connection or bad Wi-Fi to explain away minor graphical glitches. They then instruct the team to move funds or share sensitive data. Since the team can see the person, they follow orders, unaware that every participant on the call except the victim could be a digital fabrication.
Fabricated Proof and Reputation Damage
A scammer does not need to talk to staff to cause harm. They can create a video of a business leader saying something offensive or admitting to illegal practices, then threaten to release it unless a ransom is paid. Even if the video is eventually proven to be fake, the immediate damage to brand trust and reputation can be devastating.
Why This is Important for Your Business
Data is critical to your business, but trust is the foundation it sits on. If your staff cannot trust that the person on the other end of the screen is who they say they are, the entire workflow grinds to a halt.
The danger here is not just the loss of money—though fraudulent wire transfers often reach six figures—it is the psychological toll on your team. Being a victim of a scam is not the fault of the employee, but it can leave them feeling compromised and hesitant to make future decisions.
Applying This to Your Company
Protecting a business does not require being a computer scientist. It requires updating standard operating procedures.
- Establish a safe word - For high-stakes actions like wire transfers, use a non-digital password known only to key executives. If a caller does not know the word, the communication is a fake.
- Verify through a second channel - If an odd request is received via video or voice, hang up and call the person back on their known cell phone number. Do NOT use the return call feature or a number provided during the suspicious call.
- The vibe check - Deepfakes often struggle with natural movement. If a video looks glitchy around the mouth or the person does not blink naturally, be suspicious.
- Train your team - Education is the best firewall. Ensure staff know these tools exist so they are not caught off guard.
Technology is moving fast. By the end of this year, these fakes will be even more seamless. If you are worried about your current security posture or want to run a training session for your staff on modern scams, give us a call at 800.618.9844.
