MANILA - Global losses due to business email fraud could amount to $9 billion in 2018, as cyber criminals devise new schemes to override defenses on the internet, an internet security firm said Tuesday.

The most prevalent schemes include fraudsters posing as the company CEO in an email and duping staff to wire money to the their bank account, said Trend Micro security focus lead Paul Joseph Oliveria.

The $9 billion estimated losses next year was based on the monthly reported losses from June to December 2016. Trend Micro, citing data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, reported $5 billion in losses from business email fraud in 2016.

"Cybercriminals and threat actors take advantage of existing platforms and technologies when launching their attacks, so as new ones emerge and goes mainstream, these criminals will follow suit and improve their arsenal," Oliveria told ABS CBN News.

Oliveria said fraudsters have begun using machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, to identify vulnerabilities of email systems.

Companies should hold cyber security drills for their employees in anticipation of the threats, he said.

“There is no silver bullet to today’s threats; it is imperative for companies to have multi-layered protection to improve their chance of stopping threats before they get into their network,” he said.