Generative AI, Email Scams Lead Cyber Fraud in 2024

Cybersecurity is one of the most concerning business risks for 2025, as 90% of companies noted they were targeted by cyber-fraud in the past year, up from 79% of companies in 2023, according to a survey released by Trustpair SAS.

Cyber-fraud (which includes activity such as hacking, deepfakes, voice cloning and highly sophisticated phishing schemes) rose by 14% year over year, according to data released by Trustpair, a France-based fraud protection platform for companies.

The survey of 200 senior finance, treasury and accounts payable executives found that most executives report confidence in their (90%) and their team’s (89%) ability to spot a deepfake, business email compromise scam or other advanced cyber-fraud attack. Only 6% claim they cannot keep up with the growing sophistication of fraud attacks.

Almost half (43%) of companies have invested in fraud awareness training over the past 12 months, but survey respondents acknowledged the potential for human error in spite of this, saying one of their biggest challenges in fraud prevention is that employees do not always follow fraud prevention policies (39%).

The rapid advancement and adoption of artificial intelligence will only lead to more fraud, Trustpair noted, specifying that in 2024, the use of generative AI tactics such as deepfakes and deep audio increased by 118%. Email scams are now the top approach (63%) fraudsters are using against organizations, up 103% year over year. This is a considerable shift from 2023, when text messages were the most commonly used approach.

Vendor fraud is also growing: 69% of companies reported they were targeted by this type of fraud in 2024. Vendor fraud and wire transfer fraud (63%) are the top two fraud types by which companies were targeted—and the two types of fraud with which companies say they are least prepared to deal.

“Our research shows that cyber fraud is an inescapable reality,” said Baptiste Collot, co-founder and CEO of Trustpair, in a release about the survey. “While many executives express confidence in their organizations’ ability to identify sophisticated fraudsters, nearly the same percentage said their organizations experienced successful attacks, indicating the confidence is misplaced.”