Beware the ‘urgent’ email at the end of the working day
Australian businesses lose more than $150 million a year to scammers; Some sit on sensitive company email chains and wait for the right moment to take action.
The threat may occur near the end of the workday, when workers are clearing the decks and preparing to go home, or any time the predator thinks humans will be distracted.
You may receive an urgent email from a manager requesting immediate payment of a particular invoice.
But they may not be who they claim to be.
“Scammers are actually getting very sophisticated,” William Mailer, chief behavioral scientist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, told AAP.
“They can create email addresses that look almost identical to a legitimate email address, or they can actually access the real email accounts of a co-worker, a boss, or a supplier.
“Sometimes these scams actually come embedded in email routes.”
Once placed in the system, the fraudster can patiently examine how processes and payments occur, by whom and in what cycles.
“They can really time the fraud … so it feels very routine and normal, as if it’s coming from a trusted source, which makes it really difficult for the employee and the manager to detect the fraud,” Mr. Mailer said.
according to National Anti-Fraud CenterAustralian businesses fell victim to thousands of so-called payment redirect scams in 2025, losing a total of $167 million.
This is the second most successful scam in the country, behind investment scams and romance scams.
73 percent, according to CBA research published Thursday. business settlement scams It arrives by email and usually includes requests to add or change payment details or confirm transfers.
In many cases, employees prove to be better than managers at picking up red flags.
Testing on more than 1,100 employees, managers and small, medium and large business owners by CBA’s behavioral science team found that 76 percent of employees were able to detect a scam, compared to 53 percent of managers.
But it turns out that 42 percent of employees and 20 percent of managers were initially suspicious when the fraud was successful.
“When people are busy, under pressure, or responding to requests that appear to come from senior leaders or trusted suppliers, they are more likely to trust their instincts rather than stopping to verify,” Mr. Mailer said.
“This is exactly when fraudsters rely.”
Businesses should be wary of email tone that sounds particularly brash or aggressive, urgent and unexpected requests, or requests to update bank details and make payments to new accounts.
Australians lost a total of $2.18 billion in 2025 to hundreds of thousands of different scams.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
