By Ramesh Menon, Chief Product Officer at Eftsure
Fraud in all shapes and forms has been growing exponentially for several years and unfortunately shows no sign of slowing down, as those pulling the cybercrime levers continue to profit. However, whenever there are incidents within industries of ‘cheats’ advancing, there is always an opportunity for those leading the defence.
There’s a number of factors which have driven this increase – those include businesses operating in an increasingly digital world, hybrid and flexible work arrangements creating new risks, the rapid evolution of AI fraud tools, growth in cross-border payments, gaps between IT and finance controls, and old-fashioned human error.
With cybercrime heavily impacting B2B payments – and specifically business email compromise (BEC) schemes – continuing to wreak havoc in Australia and globally, the heightened risk environment has left businesses seeking greater protection and peace of mind. For the companies looking to provide that peace of mind, it’s an urgent necessity to keep adapting and evolving within a complex threat environment.
As part of that evolution, we recently launched Eftsure Guarantee, an Australian-first that will see us guarantee $1 million in protection against payment losses that result from social engineering. It demonstrates our confidence in our own platform but also our commitment to protecting business payments.
Scam liability has been a major topic of discussion in 2025, and we think the dialogue highlights just how complicated and sophisticated scams have become. To stay one step ahead of fraudsters’ tactics, we’ll all need to work together and play our part. Eftsure Guarantee represents our willingness to step up and take responsibility rather than pointing fingers. It is part of our overall philosophy of ‘collaborative cybersecurity,’ the idea that the only robust defence against cybercrime comes through multi-layered, cross-functional teamwork and strength in numbers.
In terms of trends we’ve seen in the industry, there’s been a few worrying developments that require a bit of thought and consideration:
- 400% growth in the dollar value of fraud attempts since Q1 last year (heading for roughly $10 million).
- This year has seen an uptick in fraud attempts against smaller government organisations (e.g. councils)
- There’s also been a noticeable uptick in fraud attempts using landlines, whereas last year most phone-based scams were mobile – it’s possible that targets find calls coming from landline numbers more trustworthy
Additionally, cybercrime is becoming increasingly cross-border and international. AI tools are also helping cybercriminals increase the scale and personalisation of their fraud attempts. As a result, we are focused on expanding our global network and reducing the time and resources needed for end-to-end B2B payment protection.
Cybercrime is evolving more rapidly than ever, which is why we are enhancing our security layers with advanced analytics and AI-driven fraud detection within our customer network – fraud prevention is a constant cat-and-mouse game, and we’re committed to staying ahead.
Moreover, international transactions carry higher fraud risks, with varied languages, unfamiliar banking systems, and regulatory complexities all adding to the challenge. That’s why we’ve expanded our supplier verification capabilities to international markets, starting with the US, and are working to expand verification throughout Europe and Asia-Pacific.
One of the greatest barriers we currently possess is changing decision-makers’ mindset that it’s a case of ‘when, not if’ they are targeted. Leaders should assume that they will be targeted, that trusted partners will be compromised, and work to make it as hard as possible for cybercriminals to carry out their ultimate goal: stealing money.
It’s up to solutions providers and industry experts to bring a sense of urgency to this matter and ensure businesses don’t operate with mindsets or controls that pre-date the true risks of today – risks that will only become more sophisticated as technological capabilities continue to advance.
About Eftsure
Eftsure is the global market leader in payment fraud prevention. Specifically designed for businesses, our end-to-end solution safeguarded more than $288b in B2B payments last year. Powered by cross-checking, we use a variety of verification methods to give businesses greater control over onboarding suppliers and making payments, and we back each verified payment with a guarantee.
In short, we ensure our customers don’t pay the wrong people.
