VairogsPhone calls, executive fraud, and deepfakes
How to stop a convincing person who rushes a payment or data transfer.
The employee stops risky conversations and verifies requests through an independent channel.
Threat
AI and automation make fraudulent conversations more believable, personal, and cheap to produce.
What to know
- An attacker may know real names, projects, job titles, and suppliers.
- CEO or finance fraud usually relies on urgency, secrecy, and bypassing the normal process.
- Voice or video is no longer enough proof when the request is unusual.
- A safe process protects the employee too: nobody has to prove courage by breaking procedure.
Actions
- Confirm payments, data exports, or access grants through a second, previously known channel.
- Use the phrase: "I will check this according to the procedure and call back."
- Do not accept isolation tactics such as "do not tell anyone".
- If a mistake has already happened, report immediately. The first minutes decide whether a payment can be stopped.
Workplace scenario
Urgent payment
A finance employee receives a voice message that sounds like the CEO. It asks for an urgent transfer to a new supplier and says nobody else should be involved.
Think before the test
- Which words are pressure and isolation signals?
- Which second channel is valid for confirmation?
- Why does the procedure protect the employee as well as the company?
For the manager and responsible person
If management bypasses approval procedures, employees will do the same in a crisis.
- Define approval for payments and access changes.
- Management must follow the process even when work is urgent.
- Give employees a permitted phrase: “I will verify this through the procedure.”