TL;DR:
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Deepfakes aren’t just for TikTok memes anymore, scammers are using them to empty company accounts.
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Real businesses have already lost millions because “the boss” on a call wasn’t real.
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SMEs are targeted too, fake recruiters and AI-generated staff headshots are conning job seekers and damaging reputations.
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Boring IT controls like MFA and payment-verification processes stop the magic show dead.
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Outsourcing IT isn’t restrictive, it’s cost-effective insurance against Hollywood-level trickery.
Remember when spotting a scam was as easy as noticing the email was from ceo@gmail.com? Cute days. Fast forward, and we’ve entered the era where your CFO can ask you for £10 million on a Zoom call, and it’s not actually your CFO.
That isn’t sci-fi. It’s already happened.
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Case 1: The $25 Million Deepfake Call
In early 2024, a finance worker at a Hong Kong-based engineering firm joined a video call with their CFO and colleagues. Everything looked normal, familiar faces, familiar voices. Except it wasn’t. The entire group was a deepfake simulation. The “CFO” instructed a transfer of $25 million to external accounts. By the time the fraud was caught, the money was gone. -
Case 2: CEO Voice Cloning in the UK
A UK energy firm reported losing $243,000 in 2019 when criminals used AI to perfectly mimic the CEO’s voice, instructing a transfer to a Hungarian supplier. -
Case 3: The Fake Job Interview
SMEs are being caught too. Scammers have used deepfaked “recruiters” with AI-generated LinkedIn profiles to run fake job interviews. Candidates hand over personal data (and sometimes “training fees”) only to discover the company had nothing to do with it.
Why We Fall For It
Humans are wired to trust authority and faces. A video call feels “real” because, well, we saw the person. Except now AI can mimic not only voices but also expressions and mannerisms.
Add urgency (“do it now or we lose the deal”), sprinkle authority (“this is from the CFO”), and even savvy employees can slip.
How To Stop It (Without Becoming Paranoid)
Deepfakes are scary, but they’re not unstoppable:
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Multi-Factor Authentication: Even if “the CFO” asks, payments still require MFA approval.
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Independent Verification Channels: Big money moves? Confirm through a different line of communication.
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Staff Awareness: Teaching employees that video ≠ truth is the new “don’t click dodgy links.”
Why Outsourced IT Is the Win
Here’s the uncomfortable bit: these controls feel restrictive. Having IT “lock down” your finance team’s laptop or insisting on payment policies isn’t fun. But neither is explaining to the board that you fell for “CFO Barbie” on Zoom.
An in-house IT head costs £50k+ a year. A technician adds another £24k+. With our Managed Service Partnership, you get that expertise without remortgaging the office.
Final Thought
Deepfakes are convincing because they play on our instincts to trust faces and authority. Whether it’s a “CFO” on a Teams call or a recruiter with a perfect AI-generated headshot, the scams are designed to bypass common sense and push urgency. The truth is, no amount of gut feeling alone can defend against that.
What does work is structure: clear verification policies, enforced multi-factor authentication, and staff who know how to slow down and double-check. That’s where TLMartin Ltd steps in. Through our Managed Partnerships, we don’t just lock down systems, we create the strategies and policies that make these scams far harder to pull off.
You get the benefits of an in-house IT department without the £50k+ salary bill, and the reassurance that when “CFO Barbie” pops up on Zoom, your team won’t be fooled.