AI has made scams look legit. Here's how to spot them anyway.

The old advice for spotting a scam was to look for spelling mistakes, clunky English, and an email that didn't sound quite right. AI has made most of that advice out of date.

Scammers now use AI tools to write polished emails in any style, including your supplier's. They can clone someone's voice from a short clip online and produce convincing fake documents in seconds. For small businesses, the target is usually the same thing it always was: getting you to pay money into the wrong bank account.

What these scams look like

• The "updated bank details" email. A message that appears to come from a regular supplier says they've changed banks. The invoice matches the real one, and the email thread may even be a real one the scammer has got into.
• The urgent call from the boss. A phone call or voice message that sounds exactly like the owner or a manager asks for an urgent payment to be made today, and asks you to keep it quiet.
• The fake invoice. An invoice for something that sounds plausible, such as a web domain renewal, a directory listing or a supplier you've used once, arrives at a busy time and gets paid without a second look.

The warning signs haven't changed

AI makes scams look better, but it doesn't change what scammers need from you. Be suspicious of:

• Urgency: "this must be paid today"
• Secrecy: "don't mention this to anyone yet"
• Changed payment details: a new bank account, or a new way to pay
• Pressure to skip your normal process

Simple habits that stop most of it

1. Always call to confirm a change of bank details. Use a phone number you already have on file, never the one in the email.
2. Have two people approve new payees and changes to bank details.
3. Agree a code word for urgent requests. If the "boss" can't give it, don't pay.
4. Take bank warnings seriously. If your bank's payment screen warns that the account name doesn't match, stop and check.
5. Slow down. A genuine supplier will wait a few hours while you confirm.

If it happens to you

Call your bank immediately; the faster you move, the better the chance of stopping or recovering the payment. Report it to the National Cyber Security Centre, and let us know so we can sort out your records. One tax point to be aware of: you can't claim GST on a fake invoice, because there was no genuine supply behind it.