# What is Business Email Compromise (BEC)?

> Business email compromise (BEC) is a form of fraud in which an attacker impersonates or takes over a trusted business identity to persuade someone to transfer money, reveal sensitive information, or change a legitimate business process.

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## Content

Common targets include invoice payments, payroll, gift cards, tax information, and property transactions.

BEC often succeeds without a malicious attachment. Attackers may spoof a similar-looking address, compromise a genuine mailbox, study existing conversations, create forwarding rules, and insert believable instructions into the normal workflow. The strongest defenses therefore combine account security with independent verification and financial controls.

### Key points

- **Common warning signs:** Urgency, secrecy, changed bank details, unusual payment methods, subtle address differences, or a request that bypasses normal approval.
- **Preventive controls:** Phishing-resistant MFA, protected email domains, conditional access, mailbox monitoring, separation of duties, and payment-change procedures.
- **Critical check:** Verify sensitive or changed instructions through a known, independent channel — not contact details supplied in the message.
- **If money was sent:** Contact the financial institution immediately, preserve evidence, and report the fraud to the relevant authorities.
- **Important limitation:** Email filtering alone cannot stop a convincing request sent from a genuinely compromised account.

### Related terms

[Phishing](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/phishing/>) · [Email spoofing](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/email-spoofing/>) · [Multi-factor authentication (MFA)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/multi-factor-authentication/>) · [Identity and access management (IAM)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/identity-and-access-management/>) · [Incident response (IR)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/incident-response/>)

### Sources

[FBI: Business Email Compromise](https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scams-and-safety/common-frauds-and-scams/business-email-compromise) · [CISA: Phishing Guidance](https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/recognize-and-report-phishing)

## Attribution and scope

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