Analyzes business email compromise (BEC) scams where attackers impersonate executives or vendors to trick employees into transferring funds or sharing sensitive data. Covers detection methods, employee training approaches, and technical controls to prevent BEC attacks.
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In May 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — a category built almost entirely on fake emails — accounted for over $2.9 billion in adjusted losses in a single year. That figure dwarfed ransomware losses by a factor of nearly 50. And those
In March 2025, a mid-size accounting firm in Ohio wired $1.2 million to a threat actor who sent a single spoofed email — a fakeemail that perfectly mimicked the CEO's display name, writing style, and even included a forwarded thread from a real conversation. The email passed every
A Legitimate DocuSign Email That Steals Your PayPal Credentials In November 2024, Avanan researchers documented a wave of attacks where threat actors sent phishing emails through DocuSign's actual platform — not spoofed emails, but real DocuSign notifications. The documents inside impersonated PayPal invoices requesting payment authorization for hundreds or
In January 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — much of it powered by spoofed sender addresses — cost American organizations over $2.9 billion in 2023 alone. Behind a huge share of those losses sits a deceptively simple tool: the fake mailer. These
In January 2025, a finance director at a mid-sized manufacturing firm received an email from what appeared to be the company's CEO. The domain was off by one character. The request was urgent — wire $220,000 to a new vendor before end of day. She complied. The money
In December 2024, a finance employee at a multinational firm in Hong Kong wired $25 million after a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and several colleagues. Every person on that call was a deepfake. The real CFO had never scheduled the meeting. This
A Single Email Cost This Company $47 Million In 2016, Austrian aerospace manufacturer FACC lost €42 million (roughly $47 million) after attackers impersonated the CEO via email and convinced a finance employee to transfer funds for a fake acquisition. The CEO and CFO were both fired. The company's
A Single Email Cost This Company $37 Million In 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that Business Email Compromise — the category that includes every CEO fraud email scam — generated adjusted losses exceeding $2.9 billion in a single year. That number has held steady as one
The CEO Who Wired $47 Million to a Criminal In 2016, Austrian aerospace manufacturer FACC lost €42 million (roughly $47 million) after attackers impersonated the CEO in emails directing employees to transfer funds for a fake acquisition. The CEO was fired. The CFO was fired. The company's stock
In January 2024, a finance worker at British engineering firm Arup was tricked into wiring $25 million to criminals after a video call — a call that started with a single fake email. The message looked like it came from the company's CFO. Everything about it — the sender name,
