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Business Email Compromise (BEC)
Sophisticated attacks where criminals impersonate executives or vendors to trick businesses into wire transferring funds.
$2.9B (FBI IC3 2023)
Annual losses (US)
21,000+ businesses annually
Reported victims/year
Report Now
FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov
🎭 How Scammers Do It: Tactics
- ▸ Compromise or spoof executive email accounts (CEO fraud)
- ▸ Impersonate vendors to redirect legitimate invoice payments
- ▸ Request emergency wire transfers from finance staff
- ▸ Use language and context obtained through reconnaissance
- ▸ Time attacks during executive travel or out-of-office periods
- ▸ Convince HR to redirect payroll direct deposits
🚩 Red Flags: Stop If You See These
⚠ Urgent wire transfer request from an executive or vendor
⚠ Email domain has subtle changes ([email protected] vs company.com)
⚠ Request to keep the transfer confidential from other staff
⚠ Change in vendor bank account details via email
⚠ Uncharacteristic payment amounts or urgency from known senders
⚠ Request comes when recipient is under deadline pressure
🛡️ How to Protect Yourself
1. Verify all wire transfers with a second factor (phone call to known number)
2. Implement multi-person approval for wire transfers above threshold
3. Enable DMARC, DKIM, and SPF on your company email domain
4. Verify any change in vendor banking details with a phone call
5. Train all finance staff on BEC recognition
6. Use out-of-band verification for all significant financial requests
📋 How to Report This Scam
Report immediately to FBI IC3 at ic3.gov. Contact your bank immediately to attempt wire recall.