Navigating Deepfake Threats: Ensuring Supplier Authenticity in Accounts Payable

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses face an array of challenges, one of which is the growing threat of deepfake technology and its potential to facilitate identity theft. This is particularly relevant in the Accounts Payable (AP) space, where the authenticity of suppliers is paramount. As deepfake technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, it's crucial for businesses to ensure they truly know their suppliers.

Deepfake and Identity Theft: A Growing Concern

Deepfake technology uses artificial intelligence to create hyper-realistic but entirely fake audio and video content, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between genuine and manipulated content. This technology can be exploited to commit identity theft, posing a significant risk to businesses.

In the AP space, deepfake technology can be used to impersonate suppliers, leading to fraudulent transactions. A fraudster could potentially use deepfake technology to mimic a supplier's voice, video, or even email style, tricking businesses into making payments to fraudulent accounts.

The Importance of Knowing Your Suppliers

In this environment, it's more important than ever for businesses to truly know their suppliers. This goes beyond just knowing the products or services a supplier provides; it involves understanding the supplier's communication patterns, verifying their identity, and regularly updating supplier information.

Businesses should be aware of any changes in supplier behavior. For example, if a supplier suddenly changes their bank account details or requests payment to a different account, this could be a red flag.

Implementing Robust Verification Processes

To combat the threat of deepfake and identity theft, businesses should implement robust verification processes. This could involve:

1. Thorough ID Verification:

Businesses should establish comprehensive document verification processes when proving a supplier's identity. This includes checking all security features in IDs and re-verifying the authenticity of documents.

2. Biometric Verification:

Implementing quick and robust liveness verification can prove that no malefactor is trying to present non-live imagery during checks. Biometric verification solutions should also match a person’s selfie with their ID portrait and any database an organization utilizes to ensure that the person is the same.

3. Cross-Validation:

Cross-validating supplier information with biometric checks and recent transaction checks can help ensure a thorough verification process.

Stay Vigilant

In the face of deepfake technology and the potential for identity theft, businesses must be vigilant. By truly knowing their suppliers and implementing robust verification processes, businesses can protect themselves and maintain the integrity of their AP operations. As technology continues to evolve, so too must our strategies for combating fraud and ensuring the authenticity of our suppliers.

‍

Interested in learning how organizations are leveraging AP Payments as a Service to proactively manage supplier verification, and prevent payments fraud? Click here to request time with one of Finexio's payments experts.