Australia AI security guide · Published 13 September 2026

When fake sounds familiar, slow the decision down

AI scams do not work because people are foolish. They work because a message can now borrow a familiar voice, a trusted name, a real invoice amount or a polished page before you have time to check it.

The safer habit is not trying to spot every fake. It is building a pause that still works when the fake looks real.

3 questions
3 steps
4 team rules to copy

Three questions

Got a message, call or invoice in front of you?

Answer honestly. You do not need to know if it is fake.

Is it urgent?
A deadline, a threat, a secret or a familiar voice pushing you to act now.
Did a detail change?
New bank details, a new number, a new link or a new contact.
Does it ask you to move money, data or access?
A payment, a file, a password, a code or a login.

0 of 3 answered

Got one in front of you now?

Check a suspicious request with Bit before anyone acts

Describe the message, call, invoice or ad in your own words, leave out the sensitive details, and Bit gives you a checklist to verify it through a separate trusted route.

Check a request with Bit

The pause.

Three steps that work whether the fake is a phone call, an email, a video or a page. Tick them off as you go.

0 of 3 done

StopName the pressure. Urgency, secrecy, emotion, authority and familiarity are all reasons to slow down.
CheckUse a separate route: a saved number, official website, bank app, supplier portal or known contact. Do not use the link or number in the message.
ProtectHold the payment, block the sender, change credentials, call the bank, report through Scamwatch or ReportCyber, and keep the evidence.

Where the pressure lands.

Three places a convincing fake does its damage. If a message touches one of them, that is the cue to slow down.

Watch for
Money
Changed bank details, investment ads, urgent invoices and payment requests.
Watch for
Identity
Voice cloning, video impersonation, family messages and trusted names used as pressure.
Watch for
Work data
Customer records, staff details, financial files and private notes pasted into tools without a rule.

The workplace version.

Four rules a small team can agree in one meeting, before anyone pastes real work into a tool. Tick what your team has agreed, then copy the list to share it.

Team checklist

0 of 4 checked

Write the no paste list.Customer records, staff issues, health notes, payment details and proprietary documents need a rule before someone opens a tool.
Review the answer before it travels.A confident AI answer is not a source, a legal check or a fraud decision.
Know the vendor boundary.Check what the tool stores, where data goes, whether submitted data trains models and who gets incident notice.
Make account changes boring.New bank details, urgent payments and access requests should go through a known process, not a persuasive message.

Ask Bit to help with a security pause

Bring the exact situation with the sensitive details removed, and ask for the separate route to verify it before anyone acts.

Ask Bit to help with a security pause Back to all guides

Sources checked.

Official Australian guidance first, then two reports of what the scams look like in practice.

Cyber.gov.au: Artificial intelligence for small business ↗Cyber.gov.au: Defending against AI enabled cyber attacks ↗Cyber.gov.au: Engaging with artificial intelligence ↗Digital.gov.au: Artificial intelligence policy ↗Scamwatch ↗CommBank: Can Australians spot deepfake scams? ↗Guardian reporting on ASIC deepfake investment scam warning ↗