13 July 2026

They call you in your supplier's voice: how the voice-cloning scam works

Picture Marta, who runs the back office of a building materials company. One Friday at two in the afternoon she gets a call from her long-standing supplier. It is his voice: the same accent, the same way of drawing out words, even the usual joke about the traffic. He tells her they have changed banks and that this month's transfer has to go to a new account. It is urgent — otherwise Monday's order will not be delivered.

Marta makes the transfer. On Monday she finds out her supplier never called her.

This scam exists, it works, and it is getting easier to pull off. It is worth knowing how it goes.

How they can have your supplier's voice

There are AI tools today that, from a few seconds of someone's audio, generate a copy of their voice good enough to fool you over the phone. And getting those seconds is easier than it sounds: a video on the company website, an interview on local radio, a forwarded WhatsApp voice note, a message on an answering machine.

With that cloned voice, the scammer calls you posing as someone you trust: a supplier, an important client, or even your own company's manager asking for an urgent payment. Always in a hurry. Always with a new account.

The warning signs

Fortunately, these scams almost always follow the same pattern. If you spot two or three of these signs at once, stop:

Disproportionate urgency. "It has to be today", "if we don't do it now we lose the order". Haste is the main weapon: they want you acting before thinking.

A change in payment details. A new bank account, a different IBAN, a change of institution. This is the single most important sign. Real suppliers change banks very rarely, and never in a rush.

Confidentiality. "Don't mention it to anyone yet", "this is between you and me". They want to stop you discussing it with somebody who would see through it.

An unusual channel. They phone you when you normally write to each other, or message you on WhatsApp when you always use email.

They resist you calling them back. If you say "let me call you", excuses appear.

The protocol that saves you the trouble

You need no technology to protect yourself. You need one rule, and the whole team has to know it:

No change of bank details is accepted over the phone, by email, or on WhatsApp. Ever. It is always verified by you calling the usual number — the one you have had saved for a long time, not the one you have just been given.

That single rule disables practically the whole scam. Because the scammer can clone a voice, but cannot answer your real supplier's phone.

Add two more things. First: set a rule that any payment above a certain amount (whatever makes sense for your business) needs two people's approval. Second: talk about it openly with your team, especially whoever handles payments. Someone who knows this exists no longer falls for it; someone who has never heard of it does.

And if it has already happened?

Act fast — the first minutes count. Call your bank immediately to try to stop or reverse the transfer; sometimes you get there in time. Report it to the police. Warn the real supplier, because they are probably being impersonated with other clients too. And tell your team: shame is the scammer's best ally, and silence is what makes it happen again.

AI is not the problem; deception is

It is easy to read this and conclude that AI is dangerous, full stop. I see it differently: the same technology used to clone a voice can save you hours of work every month if it is applied well and with judgement. What is needed is not fear of it, but knowing how you can be attacked and putting simple barriers in the way.

And this is the part nobody usually explains: protecting yourself from these scams costs neither money nor technology. It costs one conversation with your team and one clear rule.