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Business Email Compromise (BEC)
Critical SeverityBEC caused $2.7 billion in losses in 2022 (FBI IC3 report)
Business Email Compromise (BEC) is a sophisticated scam where attackers impersonate executives or business partners to trick employees into transferring funds or sharing sensitive data.
How it works
- Attackers compromise or spoof an executive's email account
- They study internal communication patterns and financial workflows
- A carefully timed email requests an urgent wire transfer or invoice payment
- The email bypasses spam filters because it contains no malware or suspicious links
Red flags to watch for
- CEO or CFO requesting an urgent wire transfer via email only
- New or changed bank account details from a vendor
- Pressure to complete transaction before end of day or during travel
- Request to keep the transaction confidential
- Email sent outside normal business hours
Real-world example
Subject: Confidential — Need your help with something
From: CEO Display Name <ceo@company-corp.com>
“I need you to process a wire transfer urgently. I'm in a board meeting and can't take calls. Please transfer $47,500 to the account details I'll send next. This is time-sensitive and confidential.”
How to protect yourself
- Implement dual-authorization for all wire transfers above a threshold
- Always verify payment changes via phone call to a known number
- Train employees to recognize BEC patterns
- Use SiftMail to flag emails from domain-similar senders automatically
How SiftMail detects this
SiftMail catches BEC through reply-to mismatch detection (+20%), sender domain analysis (+25%), and Business-tier impersonation detection including CEO name matching and homoglyph checks.
Stop business email compromise (bec) before they reach your inbox
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