New research from Certos, powered by Early Warning – the company behind Zelle^® – shows why CFOs can’t rely on deepfake detection alone and how interbank intelligence can help stop AI-enabled fraud at the point of account opening. 

NEW YORK, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The email looks legitimate. The voice sounds right. The payment instructions look correct. Increasingly, chief financial officers know that none of that means it’s true. According to new research from Certos, which is powered by Early Warning – the company behind Zelle – 81% of corporate financial leaders surveyed say their company experienced attempted fraud involving AI-generated or AI-enhanced content in the past year.

The research also reveals a widening confidence gap across corporate America: business leaders know AI-enabled fraud is becoming harder to detect, but many are far less certain they can stop it before money moves. According to the survey, 84% state AI-enabled fraud is harder to detect than traditional fraud and scams. 

Yet just 50% of CFOs and senior finance leaders are very or extremely confident in their ability to identify an AI fraud attempt before funds move out of their institution. 

“The solution isn’t just trying to spot the fake voice,” said Ben Chance, general manager of Certos. “It’s having the inter-bank network intelligence to help determine whether the receiving account actually belongs to the person or business the sender thinks they’re paying before money leaves the bank.”

In the last four years, the products that make up the Certos portfolio helped financial institutions stop approximately $16.4 billion in potential fraud across the banking sector. Certos provides identity intelligence, fraud signals and risk insights that help participating financial institutions strengthen fraud prevention, verify identities and make more informed customer and account-related decisions. 

The new research exposes a critical systemic vulnerability: enterprise treasury structures actively amplify this threat: 77% of respondents manage multiple financial institution relationships – a figure that jumps to 81% among Fortune 500 companies, where nearly half (49%) operate across five or more banks. Because individual banks can only inspect transactions within their own walled gardens, AI impersonation schemes exploit this cross-bank blind spot to execute fraudulent transfers before internal teams react. 

Deepfakes Move from Consumer Scams to the C-Suite 

AI is not just a consumer romance or puppy scam; it is directly targeting critical enterprise financial operations: 

• Business Email Compromise (BEC): AI-generated messages make attacks more convincing. BEC was cited as a top threat by 57% of respondents overall and 62% of Fortune 500 respondents. 

• Vendor Impersonation: Fake payment instruction changes can send money to a criminal instead of the appropriate vendor. Vendor impersonation was cited by 53% overall (59% of Fortune 500). 

• Executive & Client Impersonation: Voice and video deepfakes make it difficult for a person to know if the executive or client is really them. Executive and client impersonation was cited by 47% overall (61% of Fortune 500). 

Deepfake Inspection Is a Trap; Account Validation Is Defense 

Analyzing audio pitch, video artifacts, or email syntax forces finance teams into a probabilistic guessing game. Certos helps to break that cycle by shifting the defensive perimeter entirely: 

• The Detection Illusion: Deepfake media detection attempts to inspect an infinite array of manipulated communication channels—and fails as synthetic models improve. 

• Validating the endpoint: Inter-bank network intelligence inspects the single, immutable endpoint: the destination bank account and receiving legal entity. 

• Neutralizing the Threat: Even if a criminal executes a flawless executive voice clone, real-time recipient validation can help stop fraudulent wire or ACH transfers within the banking system. Crypto transactions require separate safeguards because wallet-to-wallet transfers may bypass these controls and are often irreversible. 

Fraud Capabilities Shift Corporate Balance Sheets 

The findings demonstrate that AI risk is not just an operational IT issue—it is directly influencing corporate deposit allocation and banking partner selection. 

• The Company Mindset: Nearly all (93%) say AI-enabled fraud has changed how their company thinks about its commercial banking relationships. Ninety-two percent of financial leaders say fraud-prevention and scam-risk capabilities are very or extremely important when selecting or evaluating a financial institution partner—a number that escalates to 96% among Fortune 500 executives. 

• Internal Friction: Faced with automated AI attacks, businesses are currently turning to internal friction. Fifty eight percent have increased multi-factor authentication, 51% stepped up employee training, and 37% added manual review holds for higher-risk payments.  

• Next Steps: Corporate leaders recognize that internal policies cannot keep pace with the speed of fraud. Ninety-three percent say collaboration among companies, financial institutions, payment networks, and technology providers is vital to addressing increasingly sophisticated AI fraud. 

About the Research 

The Certos Financial Leader Survey was fielded online August 7–21, 2026, among 230 qualified senior executives across Fortune 500 corporations, venture-backed growth companies, and Forbes Top 100 non-profit organizations. Qualifying respondents included CFOs, Treasurers, Controllers, and Heads of Finance who hold direct responsibility for corporate deposits, treasury operations, payment execution, and commercial banking relationships. Banks and credit unions were excluded from the respondent pool.¹ 

About Certos

Certos^SM is a unified portfolio of fraud and identity solutions that helps financial institutions distinguish real customers from synthetic or stolen identities at account opening, reducing payments and identity fraud while expanding access to critical financial services. It is backed by Early Warning Services, LLC – the company behind Zelle^® and the Paze^® digital wallet – which has worked with financial institutions for 35-years to drive prosperity, deliver bold innovation and improve how payments are made. For more information, visit www.certos.com.

¹ This consumer research was conducted by Accelerant Research in partnership with Early Warning Services, LLC. The online survey was conducted among 230 qualified senior executives across Fortune 500 corporations, venture-backed growth companies, and Forbes Top 100 non-profit organizations. Participants were compensated for their time. 

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SOURCE Early Warning Services, LLC