In Italy, a banking subsidiary transferred 95 million euros after forged messages and a call with an artificially generated voice. A large share was recovered, around 36 million are considered lost. The Swiss Federal Office for Cyber Security also records more cases of CEO fraud, most recently 971 compared with 719 the year before.
Until now, calling back a familiar person was seen as a reliable check. With cloned voices, that assumption no longer holds. Messenger services, where no company filters apply, add to the risk.
We therefore advise anchoring security in the procedure: two people for payments and for changed supplier bank details, follow-up calls only to known numbers, no shortcuts on management's say-so and clear instructions to notify the bank immediately if damage occurs.