Business email compromise (BEC) is a type of email fraud. In the most common scenario, an employee receives an email purporting to be from a company executive requesting that a payment be made to a specific client or account.
According to the FBI, losses caused by BEC scams surpassed $1.86 billion in 2020.
Business email compromise (BEC) occurs when a cybercriminal sends an email specifically designed to mimic a legitimate request from a known source.
Commonly, the email is an urgent request for funds from the CEO or other high-ranking executive, instructing the employee to transfer money from a corporate account.
In reality, the email comes from a criminal who has hacked the CEO’s account information or spoofed their email address to make it look legitimate. Language such as “We need this funding immediately to close this deal” or “I know I can trust you to get this done right away” is often used to add a sense of urgency.
Clicking “Reply” to such an email will send the response directly to the scammer. And of course, any funds sent by the email recipient will end up in the scammer’s account.
Your first line of defense is employee education that covers spam, phishing and social engineering—the leading techniques used for BEC. Workers at every level of your organization should understand the prevalence of BEC and what to look for, including urgent requests, typos and suspicious attachments.
Employees with any concerns about an email should call the sender directly using a confirmed corporate phone number – not a phone number within the email.
Contact your financial institution immediately and request that they contact the financial institution where the transfer was sent.
Next, contact your local FBI field office to report the crime and file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
Protect your organization against BEC scams by using ESET multi-layered endpoint security solutions, including LiveGrid® protection via the cloud and network attack protection, and the cloud-based ESET PROTECT console, to give your admins full, detailed network visibility, 24/7.
