Fake CEO call: 4 reflexes before any transfer, even when it sounds like them

A call from the boss, an urgent and confidential transfer request: this is CEO fraud, a form of business payment fraud known in France as FOVI (fake transfer orders). What has changed is that the voice itself can now be faked with AI. Here are the four reflexes for everyone who can trigger a payment. The video is in French; its narration is translated below.

The scam in two sentences

The fraudster poses as an executive, a supplier or a bank, and pushes the victim into an unplanned transfer through persuasion or pressure. The French government's victim support service, Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, describes the typical script: a request presented as coming from an executive, "urgent and confidential".

In December 2024, the FBI warned that criminals use generative AI, including synthetic voices impersonating relatives or public figures, to obtain payments.

The 4 reflexes

1. Hang up. Any unplanned transfer request by phone stops there, politely.
2. Call back on a number you already know: the internal directory, the contract, never the number that called or one given in a message. That is the FBI's advice: hang up, look up the contact yourself, call directly.
3. Get a second person to approve. Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr recommends an internal verification and approval procedure with no exceptions for any unplanned transfer or change of bank details.
4. Report the call to the finance team, even if nothing was paid: colleagues may be targeted next.

The rule only works if it has no exceptions, the CEO included. The CEO should say so personally, once, in front of everyone.

Why a voice proves nothing anymore

A cloned voice is like a counterfeit note: it looks real. So you stop checking the voice and check the channel: a call back on a known number, a second approval.

If the money has left

Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr's steps, in order:

1. Alert management and accounting immediately.
2. Call the bank right away to request a recall of the funds, and freeze pending transfers.
3. Keep the evidence: numbers, emails, messages, transfer orders.
4. Change the passwords of compromised accounts and turn on two-factor authentication.
5. File a police report. In the United States, the FBI also asks victims to report to ic3.gov.

Why a 45-second vertical video

The goal is not a course on fraud; it is a reflex. A vertical video plays on a phone, in a Teams message or an internal newsletter, in under a minute. It complements the written procedure; it does not replace it.

How this video was made with EducPilot

• Sources uploaded: Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr's fact sheet on fake transfer orders and the FBI's alert on generative AI (two web pages).
• The plan: a situation ("Friday, 5:55 pm"), a twist, an analogy, four reflexes, a four-verb recap, a closing rule.
• Sources in the film: the line on cloned voices points to the FBI alert, the second approval to the French fact sheet.
• Review: two rounds. A note applied at 0:00: "Draw the calendar and the padlock next to the phone."

For how such a script is built, see How to write a training video script.

The narration, translated

Friday, 5:55 pm. Your CEO calls: "A transfer, urgent and confidential." It is his voice. And yet, it may not be him.

AI can imitate a familiar voice to obtain a payment. A cloned voice is like a counterfeit note: it looks real.

So, before any transfer, four reflexes. Hang up. Call back the number you already know. Get a second person to approve. And report the call to the finance department.

Hang up, call back, approve, report. Even when it is the CEO calling: no exceptions.

Sources

• FBI, Internet Crime Complaint Center, Criminals Use Generative Artificial Intelligence to Facilitate Financial Fraud, 3 December 2024.
• Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, Escroquerie aux faux ordres de virement (FOVI) : que faire ? (in French), updated 15 September 2026.