Artificial intelligence-powered scams have been compromising Canadian companies’ profits, according to KPMG Canada’s Business Fraud survey.
Seventy-two percent of Canadian organizations reported that AI-driven fraud took at much as 5 percent of their annual profits over the past year. Eighty-one percent of companies hit with scams in this period reported that the fraud was AI-enabled; 72 percent of these organizations were hit more than once.
Ninety-four of organizations were concerned about experiencing AI-driven attacks in the coming year.
“AI‑powered fraud is changing the ground rules. Canadian organizations aren’t just seeing more attempted attacks – they’re more sophisticated, harder to spot and faster to execute, leaving many businesses vulnerable and unprepared to fight back,” said Myriam Duguay, KPMG Canada’s national leader of forensic investigation, integrity, and dispute services, in a statement. “Beyond the immediate financial hit, the reputational fallout from a fraud attack can be devastating. A single scam can shatter customer confidence, result in lost business, and leave lasting damage to a company’s brand.”
The three most common AI fraud schemes identified in the survey were AI-generated phishing emails and chats (60 percent), deepfakes and manipulated documents (39 percent), and voice-clone calls imitating executives (24 percent). However, just 26 percent of companies had implemented a comprehensive and tested response plan to address such attacks.
“With rise in AI-powered attacks that can mimic legitimate business interactions with alarming accuracy, the margin for error becomes razor-thin and having strong fraud defences is even more essential,” Duguay said.
Fifty-two percent of businesses indicated that they were utilizing AI to determine anomalies, authenticate users, and identify manipulated content. Seventy-four percent of organizations said they intended to apply their fraud prevention budget to detection technology; 72 percent said they would invest in employee training and awareness; and 60 percent said they would implement transaction controls like dual authentication.
Six in 10 respondents intend to increase fraud prevention and detection budgets by a maximum of 7 percent this year. Eighty-one percent said they hold employee fraud awareness training every 6-12 months.
The KPMG Canada Business Fraud survey obtained input from 251 Canadian business leaders from February 4 to 13.