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CEO Fraud

Addresses CEO fraud schemes where attackers impersonate chief executives to trick employees into transferring funds, sharing sensitive data, or taking unauthorized actions. Covers real-world case studies, social engineering techniques behind these attacks, and organizational safeguards to prevent them.

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CEO Fraud

CEO Fraud Email Scam: How Attackers Steal Millions

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

Carl B. Johnson Mar 05, 2025 7 min read
CEO Fraud

CEO Fraud Email Scam: How Attackers Steal Millions

In May 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — the category that includes every CEO fraud email scam — caused adjusted losses exceeding $2.7 billion in 2022 alone. That made it the single most financially devastating cybercrime category the FBI tracks. Not ransomware.

Carl B. Johnson Jun 08, 2023 7 min read
Business Email Compromise

Business Email Compromise: The $2.4 Billion Threat

In 2021, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received 19,954 business email compromise complaints with adjusted losses of nearly $2.4 billion. That made BEC the single most financially damaging cybercrime category — beating ransomware by a factor of almost 49 to 1. And those are just the

Carl B. Johnson May 01, 2022 6 min read
Whaling Attack

Whaling Attack Cybersecurity: How CEOs Get Hooked

In 2016, an employee at Austrian aerospace firm FACC wired $47 million to a bank account controlled by criminals — because an email that looked like it came from the CEO told them to. The CEO was fired. The CFO was fired. The company's stock tanked. That single email

Carl B. Johnson Apr 22, 2022 7 min read
CEO Fraud

CEO Fraud Email Scam: How Attackers Steal Millions

A Single Email Cost This Company $47 Million In 2015, Ubiquiti Networks disclosed that attackers impersonating company executives tricked finance employees into wiring $46.7 million to overseas accounts controlled by threat actors. No malware. No zero-day exploit. Just a carefully crafted CEO fraud email scam that exploited trust, urgency,

Carl B. Johnson Sep 07, 2020 7 min read
Business Email Compromise

Business Email Compromise: The $2.9B Threat in 2026

One Invoice, One Email, $47 Million Gone In 2024, Orion Engineering lost $47 million to a single fraudulent wire transfer. The attacker didn't hack a firewall or exploit a zero-day. They compromised a vendor's email account, inserted themselves into an ongoing invoice thread, and changed the

Carl B. Johnson Jan 19, 2020 7 min read
Whaling Attack

Whaling Attack Cybersecurity: How CEOs Get Hooked

A Single Email Cost This Company $46.7 Million In 2015, Ubiquiti Networks disclosed that threat actors impersonated senior executives and tricked employees into wiring $46.7 million to overseas accounts. The attackers didn't exploit a software vulnerability. They didn't deploy ransomware. They sent emails — carefully

Carl B. Johnson Jan 19, 2020 8 min read
CEO Fraud

CEO Fraud Email Scam: How Attackers Steal Millions

A Single Email Cost This Company $47 Million In 2015, Ubiquiti Networks disclosed that threat actors used a CEO fraud email scam to trick finance employees into wiring $46.7 million to overseas accounts controlled by attackers. The emails looked like routine requests from senior executives. No malware was involved.

Carl B. Johnson Aug 20, 2019 8 min read