Once upon a time, fraud wore a fake moustache and asked for your bank details by post. Now it wears an AI-trained voice that sounds exactly like your accountant. It writes emails better than your marketing intern. It can even put words in your mouth on video that you never said.
For 2.6 million Dutch citizens who already struggle with reading and writing, this isn’t just unsettling, it’s a stacked deck. Imagine playing chess when you don’t know all the pieces on the board. Fraudsters count on that ignorance. They hide behind clever names like shouldering (peeking at your PIN) or boiler room fraud (high-pressure investment scams), terms that sound like they belong in a handyman’s manual, not a police report.
ABN AMRO has done something worth your attention: they built the ABC of Scams, 23 of the most common fraud types, stripped of jargon, explained in plain language, with examples and tips anyone can follow. It’s not just a public service; it’s governance through accessibility.
Why This Matters for Micro and Small Enterprises
Fraud is rarely a head-on collision. It’s more like a side swipe when you’re looking the other way. As a business owner, you probably imagine fraud striking through your accountant, your bank portal, or your IT systems. But many scams enter through your people, the person on your reception desk, the warehouse clerk, the intern handling customer calls. They’re the ones answering when “the CEO” calls at 16:55 on a Friday asking for a quick payment.
When the fraud vocabulary is complex, your team hesitates. That hesitation is the opening scammers need.
The Risk Intelligence Angle
In risk governance, complexity kills speed. The ABC of Scams removes complexity at the exact point where it’s most dangerous, recognition. ABN AMRO even armed 200+ banking advisers to use this tool in daily conversations. This is what proactive risk communication looks like: not after the fraud hits, but before the fraudster even makes their move.
If you’re a CEO in the Netherlands, here’s the uncomfortable truth:
- You don’t need to explain every fraud type to your staff in depth.
- You do need to ensure they recognise the shape of the threat fast enough to hit pause.
The ABC of Scams is a ready-made vocabulary to embed into your own governance culture. It’s no different than a fire drill, except the fire now speaks with a familiar voice, thanks to AI deepfakes and voice cloning.
Practical Moves for Your Company
- Read the ABC yourself: even if you think you know. You may find blind spots.
- Run a “fraud term drill”: ask staff to explain a scam in simple terms. If they can’t, it’s a training gap.
- Integrate plain-language fraud terms into onboarding: so no one needs to “Google it later” when a suspicious call comes in.
- Keep it visible: a poster in the breakroom works better than a PDF in someone’s inbox.
Final Word
In our line of work, we often say governance is about shared understanding. You can’t govern what you can’t explain, and you can’t protect what you don’t recognise. The fraud game has learned a new language. Your best defence is making sure your team speaks it too, in words they already understand.