Adactin urges Australian firms to step up fraud defences

Adactin has outlined six areas where Australian businesses should invest to reduce fraud, as concern grows over AI-enabled scams and compliance demands tighten.

The technology and consulting firm urged organisations to focus on combining business data, strengthening identity checks, monitoring payments more closely, tightening internal processes, setting clear rules for AI, and working with industry and government.

Its recommendations reflect a broader shift in fraud risk away from stolen card details and towards impersonation, social engineering, and weaknesses in everyday business systems. Adactin said AI-generated voices and deepfakes, real-time payment scams, fake and stolen identities, account takeovers, and attacks targeting AI tools are likely to shape fraudulent transactions.

Vishal Bhanage, Head of AI & Data Engineering at Adactin, said businesses would need to move beyond traditional fraud prevention methods as criminal tactics evolve. He pointed to faster payments, more convincing impersonation attempts, and the growing use of automation in business processes.

Changing tactics

Fraud attempts are becoming cheaper to run and harder to detect because AI can help criminals produce convincing messages at scale, according to Adactin. That may make businesses more attractive targets, especially where payment approvals and supplier checks still rely heavily on manual processes.

Adactin highlighted business email and invoice fraud, impersonation scams, identity fraud, refund and payment fraud, and investment and cryptocurrency scams as areas to watch. Mid-sized businesses and organisations with complex supply chains may be particularly exposed where staff handle supplier payment changes or urgent transfer requests.

Australia's real-time payments infrastructure adds pressure to fraud controls because money can move before suspicious activity is identified. In that environment, businesses may need stronger verification steps before authorising transfers or updating supplier bank details.

Governance pressure

For many organisations, the challenge is not simply a lack of technology but weak coordination across systems, information, and staff. Data on customers, suppliers, payments, and suspicious activity is often spread across separate platforms, making it harder to spot unusual patterns or connect incidents.

Adactin also pointed to privacy, governance, and anti-money laundering obligations. Organisations need to understand what information they can share, with whom, and in what circumstances while still meeting privacy requirements.

Another issue is automated decision-making. Some organisations will need to disclose in their privacy policies how automated systems make, or help make, decisions that could significantly affect individuals' rights or interests.

Expanded anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules were also identified as a pressure point for sectors newly brought into Australia's regulatory framework, including some services provided by lawyers, accountants, real estate professionals, and conveyancers. Those businesses need customer checks, risk assessments, and reporting processes that match their obligations.

Role of AI

While AI is helping criminals craft scams, it can also help businesses detect suspicious activity earlier and speed up investigations, Adactin said. Potential uses include analysing payment patterns, spotting suspect identity documents, reviewing emails and invoices for signs of impersonation, and helping staff connect related fraud cases.

AI may also reduce false alerts by helping separate normal customer behaviour from genuinely suspicious activity. That could allow fraud teams to spend more time on higher-risk cases.

Still, Adactin cautioned that AI is not a substitute for accountability. Systems can produce misleading results, make mistakes, or be manipulated if deployed without oversight, testing, and clear rules on data access and decision-making.

Investment priorities

Adactin's recommendations place particular weight on basic controls rather than wholesale system replacement. Companies should improve how they collect, share, and use information across payment systems, customer records, and supplier databases so suspicious behaviour can be identified sooner.

The advice also includes multi-factor authentication, stronger customer and supplier verification, extra checks when bank details change, call-back verification for payment amendments, dual approval for high-value transactions, and staff training to recognise impersonation and deepfake scams.

For organisations already using AI tools, Adactin said they should understand which systems are in use, what information those tools can access, and what decisions they are allowed to make. Regular testing and monitoring should form part of that process.

"The aim should be to use AI to support better decisions, not replace accountability," Bhanage said.