• Sheila Flavell, CBE, COO at FDM Group


• 12.08.2026 11:45 am
#fraudprevention

Fraud tactics are evolving fast, and it’s reshaping the way people interact with financial institutions. AI-enabled scams, deepfakes and real-time payment vulnerabilities are driving losses, with the UK recently losing over £575 million to Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud last year alone.

These attacks don’t just cause financial harm, they can damage brands for years, resulting in missed business opportunities and frustrated customers. 

As payments systems evolve, organisations must strengthen their defences and their workforce. Interestingly, 32 percent of businesses cite a shortage of specialist skills as a top barrier to their tech adoption, showing that resilience relies on people just as much as the systems.  

The new payment threat cycle 

AI is reshaping fraud risk in ways that were unimaginable only a few years ago. Criminals are using AI to generate convincing phishing messages and create deepfake videos that trick employees into approving fraudulent transfers. Research shows that 43 per cent of breaches stem from phishing incidents, with criminals exploiting stolen credentials from data leaks or phishing campaigns.  

These threats mean organisations need to rethink how they defend payment flows, and that starts with having the right skills in place.  

The skills behind resilience 

Resilience toward these attacks now depends on specialist skills because the talent is now essential to stopping modern fraud and how organisations can build. 

Our research highlights that 54 percent of organisations believe AI skills will be required in all early-career roles, indicating that AI capability is becoming a baseline expectation across the workforce. Yet only 6 percent of teams currently have high AI proficiency. Without people who can recognise unusual payment behaviour or interpret alerts confidently, even the best technology won’t deliver the protection organisations expect. 

Upskilling teams in the latest fraud and cyber tactics is now essential because fraud risks are evolving faster than traditional training can keep up. Last year, over £1.3 billion was lost to fraud in the UK alone, highlighting the scale of losses when organisations fall behind. 

Criminals are adapting and organisations need people who can adapt with them.

From lagging to leading 

Resilience depends on the people, processes and governance working together. As fraud tactics evolve, especially with advances in AI and emerging technologies, organisations need teams who understand these risks are changing and how to respond quickly when payment flows are threatened. 

By promoting cross-departmental collaboration and breaking down silos between fraud, cyber, risk and payment teams, organisations are able to have a faster incident response, more effective root-cause analysis and a holistic view of risk. 

Strong governance plays an equally important role. Boards should receive regular updates on fraud trends and cyber risks so they can make informed decisions and ensure resources are correctly allocated as threats and technologies evolve. 

Through regular team exercises and crisis-preparation training, organisations can use the findings to strengthen controls and refine response plans. Embedding governance frameworks into everyday fraud prevention operations, ensures that those improvements become part of routine rather than something only reviewed after an incident. 

When responsibilities are understood and recovery plans are tested, organisations build the operational strength needed to keep payments running even during disruption. 

By embedding these steps into daily practice, financial institutions can build the operational muscle to ensure continuous payments, protecting customers and supporting long-term stability in a world where fraud moves faster than ever.