Fraud type · CEO fraud

CEO fraud: the director who wants you to pay today

Someone in accounts gets an email from the director: a confidential deal, payment must be made today, nobody may know. The email is not from the director.

SafetyBizz Knowledge base · updated 24 October 2026 · 5 min read · NL

How does it work?

Short answer: the fraudster poses as a director, owner or other manager, sometimes together with a fake lawyer or accountant. They ask an employee to make a payment urgently and in secret, using a look-alike email address, a hacked account, a phone call and sometimes even a cloned voice.

The variants

The secret acquisition: “we’re buying a company, this is strictly confidential”.
The urgent supplier: “this invoice must be paid today, or the deal falls through”.
The new bank details: a “manager” asking for salary or an invoice to go to a new account.
The lawyer on the line: a second person who “confirms” the instruction.
The cloned voice or video: a call or video meeting where someone sounds or looks like the director.

Rule of thumb: no payment is ever made on the basis of only an email or a call you didn’t start yourself. Always call back on a known number.

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8 red flags

Secrecy: “don’t discuss this with anyone”.
Urgency: today or within the hour.
A different procedureoutside normal approval.
The email address is slightly offor the reply-to differs from the sender.
An unknown accountoften abroad.
The director is “unreachable”in a meeting, travelling or abroad.
An unusual toneor language that doesn’t fit the sender.
A “lawyer” or “accountant”you don’t know confirming the instruction.

One red flag is not proof. If you see two or more, stop and check further first.

Checklist: how to protect your company

Agree a fixed rule: payments above a set amount always approved by two people.
Call back on a known number, never the number in the email.
Never change bank details based on an email alone.
Have external email clearly marked in your mail program.
Train your staff and make it normal to double-check a manager.
Limit what you share online about who does what and who is travelling.

What to do if it goes wrong

Call your bank immediately and ask them to recall the payment; the first hours matter most.
Report it to the police and inform your IT administrator: an email account may have been hacked.
Keep all emails with full headers and the phone numbers.
Don’t blame the employee; tell the whole team what happened.

Let Safetybizz check it

Safetybizz checks whether an email address, domain and bank account really belong to the company, so you can see in minutes whether a payment request adds up.

Frequently asked questions

What is CEO fraud?

A scam where someone poses as a director or manager and gets an employee to pay into the fraudster’s account.

How do I prevent CEO fraud?

Agree that payments above a certain amount are always approved by two people, and call back on a known number for every unusual request.

Can a voice be faked?

Yes. Modern software can imitate a voice from a few recordings. That is why calling back on a known number matters more than recognising who you hear.

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This page is general information and not legal advice.