Imposters are the chameleons of the fraud world as they assume false identities to target consumers and businesses. Imposters are not picky with what they target, often looking to steal money, personal information, passwords, identification documents, and anything else they can extort and use maliciously.
Imposters have moved past the "Nigerian Prince" schemes (though they still exist) and utilize many advanced tactics to achieve their ill-gotten gains. And they do not discriminate who their targets are. Accounts payable (AP) teams are not immune to the attacks as they still rely on manual paper processes to issue payments.
As Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to become more sophisticated, imposters are using it as a tool to make their fraud tactics even more realistic.
So, how can imposters be stopped? Education, awareness, and reporting fraud instances when they happen.
Here, we cover the most common imposter-used tactics so you can protect yourself before becoming a victim.
Phishing involves fraudulent communications, including emails or SMS / text messaging, that appear to come from a legitimate source in an attempt to have the recipient click on a link, open an attachment, or respond with personal information.
A recent study from keepnet reports that 3.4B phishing emails are sent daily.
Phishers try to appear authentic by:
There are a few different varieties of phishing.
Smishing – uses fake SMS / text messaging
Spear Phishing – uses personalized information
Whaling – targets business leaders and public figures
Phone scams occur when imposters call pretending to be someone you know, the government, or a business to get you to hand over information and logins.
Common phone scams include:
Unfortunately, AI is helping imposters with phone scams. Using AI, an imposter can create a deepfake, where they replicate your voice from a video you posted online and then call a loved one. The voice seems incredibly authentic, making it more challenging to identify.
Another way AI is helping imposters is by having the ability to call from what appears to be a known contact from your phone. For example, “Mom” will appear on the screen, but “Mom” is calling from a different number you cannot see. In tandem with deepfakes, number disguises are claiming victims at alarming rates.
According to the 2024 Global State of Scams, the U.S. was hit hardest by phone scams, with the average loss per scam over $3,500. The same study reported only 4% of those funds are ever recovered.
Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok (for now) are all used by imposters to find new victims. Imposters use social media platforms to create fake profiles and pretend they are someone they are not.
Much like phishing and phone scams, social scammers will use urgency, threats, and awards to get people to interact with them. They simply steal images from the internet to create realistic profiles and can even appear as a celebrity or political figure.
Imposters are constantly changing their ploys and becoming so seemingly authentic that it is becoming more and more challenging to identify them.
The best line of defense is awareness!
Educate yourself on the various ploys, and if you receive something suspicious, it likely is. Trusting your gut can aid prevention.
Here are a few common scam scenarios.
Imposters can only be stopped if instances are reported. Even if you aren’t a victim, if you receive suspicious calls, texts, or emails, the Federal Trade Commission has made it easy to report them.
Imposters do not discriminate, so protecting all aspects of your business is essential. Implement robust vendor payment automation solutions, such as what REPAY offers, to help secure AP payments against fraud.
REPAY automates every vendor payment while protecting against every fraud attempt. We use positive pay, invoice / vendor analysis, ACH validation, and more to secure payments.
Schedule a demo today!