Business Email Compromise: The $55 Billion Scam


Business Email Compromise/Email Account Compromise (BEC) is a sophisticated scam that targets both businesses and individuals who perform legitimate transfer-of-funds requests.

The scam is frequently carried out when an individual compromises legitimate business or personal email accounts through social engineering (PSA I-041124-PSA) or computer intrusion to conduct unauthorized transfers of funds. Often times BEC variations involve compromising legitimate business email accounts and requesting employees’ Personally Identifiable Information in order to compromise other accounts that may be related to other scams.

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Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division


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