How banks and finance teams can counter voice clones and deepfake fraud
To counter voice clone and deepfake fraud, never let a voice or a face on a call authorize money on its own. Require a callback to a known number for payment changes, use dual approval for large transfers, set code words for urgent requests, and train staff and customers that a familiar voice is no longer proof. In 2024 an employee at the engineering firm Arup sent HK$200 million (about US$25.6 million) after a video call in which every other participant, including the chief financial officer, was a deepfake.
The Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) by The AI Lab makes the real instruction provable. Executives and approvers with verified TIP-IDs sign payment instructions and official notices, and every signature needs a fresh fingerprint or Face ID on their own device. A bank can sign its official messages under its organization TIP-ID, so customers can check for free that a message really came from it. A deepfake call can copy a face and a voice, but it cannot produce a valid signature from a verified person.
The problem
How deepfakes are used in financial fraud
| Where | What goes wrong |
|---|---|
| Executive impersonation | Cloned voices and deepfake video calls instruct finance staff to make urgent transfers. |
| Customer account takeover | Voice clones try to pass voice authentication or talk their way past call center staff. |
| Fake bank messages | Texts, emails and calls pose as the bank to collect codes and credentials. |
| Synthetic identities at onboarding | AI-made documents and faces try to pass identity checks when accounts are opened. |
Every option, honestly
What each option does, and where it stops
These work together. Use more than one, and read the last column for each, including ours.
| Option | What it does | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Callback and dual approval controls | Confirm payment changes through a second, known channel and a second person. | Depend on staff following them under pressure. |
| KYC with document and liveness checks | Verify customers when accounts are opened. | A check at onboarding, not on each instruction afterward. |
| Voice biometrics | Recognize a customer by voice on the phone. | Voice clones are a known risk to voice-only authentication. |
| Deepfake detection tools | Look for signs of synthetic audio or video. | An arms race the detector must win every time. |
| Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) by The AI Lab | Lets verified people sign instructions and organizations sign official messages, each signature needing a fresh biometric on the signer's device, checkable by anyone for free. | Does not detect deepfakes or stop a person being tricked. It gives a check a fake cannot pass, if your process requires it. |
Step by step
How to put it in place, in order
- Write a rule that no voice, video or email alone can authorize a payment change or large transfer.
- Give executives and approvers TIP-IDs, and require a signed instruction on TIP for transfers above a set amount.
- Get an organization TIP-ID and sign official customer notices, so customers can check them.
- Keep callback, dual approval and code word controls in place.
- Train staff and customers that a familiar voice or face is not proof, and show them how to check a TIP record.
About TIP
What the Trust Identity Protocol is
The Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) is an open standard from The AI Lab for proving who made a piece of content and whether it has changed. A person or organization is verified once by an accredited Verification Provider and gets a TIP-ID. Each time they sign something, their own device signs it with a post-quantum signature (ML-DSA-65, NIST FIPS 204) after a fresh fingerprint or Face ID, and the TIP Network records the signature, the time, an origin label and a fingerprint of the content. Anyone can check a record for free, with no account.
TIP does not detect deepfakes, does not stop copying and does not decide whether content is true. It proves who stands behind a piece of content and whether a copy matches the original. It is governed in the open by the AI Trust Council, and the specification is public on GitHub. Signed content is called a Verifiable Asset.
Questions
Questions people ask
How do companies stop deepfake CEO fraud?
With process, not perception. Require a callback to a known number and a second approver for payment changes, and never act on a voice or video call alone. A signed instruction from a verified person on the Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) by The AI Lab adds a check a deepfake cannot pass, because each signature needs a fresh biometric on the real person's device.
Can AI voice clones beat bank voice authentication?
Voice clones are a recognized risk to voice-only authentication, and banks and regulators have warned about them. Banks increasingly pair voice with other factors. Customers should treat any unexpected call asking for codes or transfers as suspicious, whatever the voice sounds like.
How can customers check that a message is really from their bank?
Contact the bank through its app or the number on your card, never through a link or number in the message. A bank that signs its notices on TIP lets customers open the record and confirm the message came from the bank's verified identity.
Does TIP replace KYC?
No. KYC is a legal duty when an account is opened. TIP works after that, on instructions and messages, and an accredited Verification Provider's check can complement a bank's own.
What is the Trust Identity Protocol?
The Trust Identity Protocol (TIP) is an open standard from The AI Lab for proving who made a piece of content and whether it has changed. A person or organization is verified once by an accredited Verification Provider and gets a TIP-ID. Each time they sign something, their own device signs it with a post-quantum signature, and the TIP Network records who signed it, when, how it was made (Original Human, AI-Assisted, AI-Generated or Mixed) and a fingerprint of the content. Anyone can check the record for free.
What does TIP cost an organization?
Checking any TIP record is free for everyone, with no account. Signing is free for individuals, nonprofits, schools and universities, government bodies, journalism organizations for editorial use and businesses under USD 100,000 in annual revenue. Larger businesses use a published commercial license, with every tier listed at theailab.org/tip-license.
Other use cases
Where else TIP helps
- Hiring and recruiting
- Students and academic integrity
- Certificates and credentials
- Insurance claims
- Freight and logistics
- Newsrooms and journalism
- Archives, libraries and museums
- Research publishing
- Creators and creator platforms
- Agencies, brands and marketing
- Referral, rewards and marketplaces
- All use cases