Cynthia Lee, Delinea APAC VP
“Tax time is a critical period for Australian organisations from a cybersecurity standpoint. As finance teams, external partners and auditors work at pace to finalise accounts and lodge returns, there is a surge in the volume of sensitive data being accessed and shared, creating a prime opportunity for cybercriminals to exploit gaps in identity and access controls. A flood in communications from the ATO, banks, auditors and accountants allows malicious messages to blend into legitimate traffic. And when rushed or fatigued, staff are more likely to approve a payment, change a payee, or open an attachment without the usual scrutiny. For enterprises, the work during this period also requires elevated or temporary access to critical systems, for both internal staff and third parties. Without governance, permissions often remain in place longer than required, quietly expanding the attack surface. Getting through this period unscathed requires sustained vigilance: maintain strong access controls, verify payment changes out of band, and continue monitoring. The vulnerability lasts longer than the deadline does.”
Nigel Lindsay-Smith, NiCE ANZ Managing Director
“During tax time, when interaction volumes surge and customers are conditioned to expect outreach from financial institutions and the ATO, the signals that precede a scam are already present in the conversation. Hesitation. Confusion. Questions that suggest a customer is being coached. Inconsistencies that a trained agent might catch in isolation, but that are impossible to surface consistently across thousands of daily interactions without the right capability layer underneath.
What’s changing is where fraud detection lives. The most effective interventions happen at the frontline, in real time, during the interaction itself. AI that runs continuously across customer conversations can detect behavioural anomalies as they emerge, surface them to agents in the moment, and create the conditions for earlier intervention far before a suspicious interaction becomes disputed, and before a disputed transaction becomes a loss.
At scale and under peak-period pressure, this is the difference between a fraud strategy that’s reactive and one that’s genuinely predictive. The institutions building this capability are seeing it in their outcomes: lower loss rates, faster intervention, and frontline teams that are more confident and better equipped. They’re neither overwhelmed by volume nor relying on instinct alone.
The technology exists. Your tax return won’t wait, and neither will the people trying to exploit it. Financial institutions that extend their fraud perimeter to the frontline conversation will be better positioned to protect their customers and their balance sheet. Those that don’t will continue to only catch fraud when it’s already too late.”
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