Would your employees be able to recognise a scam if the scammer was pretending to be you?
Criminals use email fraud to target victims by pretending to be a high-level executive, manager or business partner and requesting that they make payments or transfers.
This scam is called Business Email Compromise - and attacks jumped 81% in 2022 - with 98% of employees failing to report the threat!
What is Business Email Compromise (BEC)?
A Business Email Compromise (BEC) is an email fraud scam in which criminals use email to target victims. In addition to businesses, individuals who conduct wire transfers are also targeted.
As cybercrime rises, BEC scams are causing swift and severe damage from which many businesses may never fully recover. according to the FBI, Approximately $1.8 billion was lost to BEC scams by businesses in 2020., The number rose to $2.4 billion in 2021.
Many employers and employees can make the mistake of believing they will not become victim to a scam. However, BEC attacks are well crafted and sophisticated, with scammers researching their target to gain knowledge about operations, suppliers, customers and business partners.
How do email scams work?
Once the scammer has enough information, they can create a convincing email that aims to fool the recipient into believing it is from their manager, finance department or another role within the company that would legitimately talk about transferring funds.
The email requests that the recipient makes a payment or transfers funds and usually puts an emphasis on speed and urgency, compelling the recipient to act quickly.
We have previously made a full and comprehensive guide on how phishing attacks can look like. The full article is available on our News page and includes a video.
Protect your business against phishing attacks
Businesses can take a number of measures to prevent employees from falling victim to BEC:
- Educate your employees
- Enable email authentication
- Use a payment verification process
- Establish a response plan
- Use anti-phishing software
Supporting your business
The role of an MSP is to support clients across the board - from systems to security and everything in between.
Becoming a victim of a Business Email Compromise scam can cost your business dearly - please do get in touch with us to ensure you have everything in place to prevent it.
Need Help with Email Security Solutions?
It only takes a moment for money to leave your account and be unrecoverable. Don’t leave your business emails unprotected. Give us a call today to discuss our email security solutions.JTNDZGl2JTIwaWQlM0QlMjJzbGlkZUJ1dHRvbiUyMiUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyc2lkZS1idXR0b24lMjIlM0VHZXQlMjBJbiUyMFRvdWNoJTNDJTJGZGl2JTNF
