From Phishing to Deepfakes: Detecting and Removing Digital Fraud

From Phishing to Deepfakes: Detecting and Removing Digital Fraud

Most of the fraud that damages a company's reputation happens on systems the company does not own. A customer is deceived by a fake website or a cloned social profile, or by a video of the chief executive that was never recorded. The loss and the complaint come back to the company's name. Digital risk protection (DRP) is the discipline of finding this activity outside the organization and having it removed. This article explains the main types of digital fraud in plain terms, how each one harms the business, and what a board should expect detection to cover.

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Why this reaches the board

Directors are responsible for risks that could harm the company's customers and revenue. External fraud belongs in that category even though no internal system is breached. It also crosses borders without effort. A single campaign can imitate a bank in one country and a delivery company in another, written in whichever language the victims read. CTM360, founded in Bahrain in 2014 and now serving more than 1,000 institutions in approximately 100 countries, sees the same patterns repeated from region to region, and its teams bring particular knowledge of the threat landscape across the banking, finance and government sectors. Any digital scams targeting the organizations leaves two questions for management: whether existing security controls are broad enough to contain the different types of fraud, and who removes what is found. Below is a short guide on common pain-points and how CTM360 can help:

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Phishing

Phishing is a fake website or message that imitates a trusted organization to steal login details or money from the people it deceives. The harm is direct: customers lose money, and the company is blamed for failing to protect them. Operators work to avoid detection. Many phishing pages show harmless content to a visitor from an unexpected country or device, or on any link except the one in the lure, so a single check from the security team's own network sees nothing. CTM360's CyberBlindspot identifies all forms of phishing, ranging from the simple to evasive forms. It examines the page itself, from its forms to its logos and the patterns behind it, and not only keywords. Lookalike domains and newly issued certificates are watched too, because both appear before a campaign launches and before any customer is reached.

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Brand and executive impersonation

Impersonation means using a company's name and logo, or its executives, to make a fraudulent approach look genuine to the person receiving it. The forms include fake social profiles, cloned websites, advertisements carrying a chief executive's photograph and rogue mobile applications. The cost shows up as customers lost to fake investment offers and staff misled by messages that appear to come from senior people, and complaints that reach customer service and legal before they reach security. CyberBlindspot monitors these on the surface web as well as the deep and dark web. For executives, reverse image search finds a photograph reused under another name, which defeats the simple trick of renaming a profile and keeping the picture.

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Data leakage and leaked credentials

Data leakage is the appearance of a company's information outside its control: employee credentials and customer card data in data dumps and malware logs, or internal code offered on underground forums. The harm is that the information gives criminals a way in, and it may create obligations to customers and regulators. CyberBlindspot monitors these sources and reports what was found and where. A credential from a malware log points to an infected device and live sessions, and one from an old breach dump suggests password reuse, so the response differs. Resets belong to the identity and endpoint teams, who hold the accounts and devices.

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Deepfakes

A deepfake is a recording of video or audio, or an image, created or altered by software to show someone doing or saying something they never did. Criminals use an executive's likeness in video advertisements for investment schemes, in clips on social media and in fake interviews on cloned news pages. The harm is credibility. Viewers trust a face they recognize, and the company is attached to the loss, because video is no longer proof of anything. CyberBlindspot detects fake videos and images that use an executive's likeness on public channels, so they are raised as cases alongside other impersonation findings and sent for removal. Speed is the point: a convincing video that runs for days before anyone reports it can reach a large audience.

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Business email compromise

Business email compromise (BEC) is a fraud in which an attacker poses by email as an executive or a supplier to obtain a payment or a change of bank details. The loss is financial and often large. One approved transfer is enough. Attackers frequently register a domain that resembles the company's own for the purpose, and CTM360 detects lookalike domains and certificates used to impersonate a company, which exposes the infrastructure before a payment request is sent. Finance still needs its own controls, such as call-back verification for changes of bank details, and confirmed lookalike domains are passed to finance and procurement so that staff and suppliers are warned.

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Other scams

Fraud takes many other forms: fake job offers that collect fees and personal details, investment scams promoted through paid advertisements, money mule recruitment, news sites built as bait, and rogue applications on third-party stores. CTM360's detection covers these use cases on the surface web and in the deep and dark web. FraudNavigator, part of CyberBlindspot, follows a scam from preparation through to payment and ties each stage to its domains and accounts, which lets a team work on the campaign instead of one page. CTM360 analysts also bait fraudsters, interacting anonymously to collect attack data that passive monitoring misses.

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Why takedowns ultimately decide the outcome

Detection tells a company that a fake exists, and customers are protected only when it is removed. Operators can rebuild a removed site within minutes. Speed counts, and so does persistence. Removal is where CTM360 takes the work off the customer. Managed Takedowns are automated through more than 200 integrations worldwide, and the Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT) manages every aspect, so your teams file nothing. CTM360 reports 98% of phishing sites down within 24 hours and 90% of executive impersonations within 48 hours. When a standard takedown is delayed, Global Threat Disruption contains the threat while the request is open, and monitoring restarts the process if a site returns.

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Detecting digital fraud with CTM360: 

CyberBlindspot detects phishing and brand and executive impersonation as well as leaked credentials, deepfakes and the lookalike domains behind business email compromise, and Managed Takedowns remove confirmed cases through automation overseen by CIRT, without involvement from your teams. The service is pre-populated and managed by CTM360 from the first day. Request a demo to see detection and removal applied to your own brands, executives and domains.

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Frequently asked questions

What is digital risk protection?

Digital risk protection (DRP) identifies fraudulent activity taking place outside an organization’s systems and supports its removal. This includes phishing sites, impersonation accounts, leaked credentials, deepfakes, rogue applications and other scams that target a company’s customers, employees or reputation.

Why should digital fraud concern the board?

Digital fraud can harm customers, revenue and reputation without breaching an internal system. Boards should know whether the organization can detect different forms of external fraud and who is responsible for removing confirmed threats.

How does CyberBlindspot detect phishing?

CyberBlindspot examines phishing pages, forms, logos and related patterns rather than relying only on keywords. It also monitors lookalike domains and newly issued certificates that may appear before a phishing campaign reaches customers.

How does CTM360 identify brand and executive impersonation?

CyberBlindspot monitors the surface, deep and dark web for fake social profiles, cloned websites, fraudulent advertisements, rogue applications and other unauthorized uses of company or executive identities.

How can external monitoring help with business email compromise?

CyberBlindspot detects lookalike domains and certificates that may be used to impersonate a company, executive or supplier. These findings can be shared with finance and procurement teams, while controls such as call-back verification remain essential for changes to payment details.

What is FraudNavigator?

FraudNavigator is CTM360's framework inspired by MITRE ATT&CK, designed to analyze observed fraud and map how scammers operate across different stages of a fraud campaign.

Why are takedowns important in fighting digital fraud?

Detection confirms that a threat exists, but removing or disrupting it limits further exposure. CTM360’s Managed Takedowns are overseen by its Cyber Incident Response Team, while continued monitoring helps identify threats that return or move to new infrastructure.

What types of digital fraud does CTM360 cover?

CyberBlindspot covers phishing, brand and executive impersonation, leaked credentials, deepfakes, lookalike domains, fake job offers, investment scams, money-mule recruitment, baiting news sites and rogue applications & many more.