What are Common Types of BEC Scams?
CEO Fraud
Invoice Scams
If you are a business owner then a fraudster will come to you as a supplier or vendor to do invoice scams. In invoice scams, scammers send you an invoice with updated bank details to trick you into paying a fake account. You cannot let down your trusted vendors because your business depends on their services. In this situation, fraudsters exploit your trust and trick you into making quick payments. But in reality, those payments go to the swindlers instead of the real supplier and you become a victim of invoice scam.
Payroll Diversion
The payroll diversion targets HR and payroll teams. In this type of scam, the BEC scammer acts like an employee through email and sends an urgent request to HR/payroll to change direct deposit details. As soon as you change the details the paycheck ends up in the fraudster`s account. They take on your account and hard-earned money and disappear without leaving any traces.
Lawyer Impersonation
Gift Card Scam
Gift card scams are one of the most effective BEC scams in which a scammer pretends to be an executive or manager. They send messages to you as your boss and ask you to urgently buy gift cards and send the codes via email or text. Seeing the message coming from your boss you act instantly. You buy the cards and send the codes back in the reply box. As soon as you do it the scammer grabs them and disappears. Once the codes are sent, the money is gone. It is effective because it doesn’t involve direct money transfers. It makes an easy way for the fraudsters to make money.
How to Identify a Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scam?
Here are some signs that help you recognize a BEC scam when receiving an email from an unknown sender:
- Unusual or urgent requests for wire transfers.
- The executive is “traveling” or “in a meeting” and unavailable for calls.
- Email request to change banking details without prior discussion.
- Slight differences in sender email (e.g., hr-dept@companypay.com instead of hr@company.com
- The email address is slightly altered e.g., john.doe@company.com instead of davi.doe@company.com.
- Unexpected legal requests for sensitive information.
- No follow-up from the employee through internal channels.
- Sudden changes in payment details without prior discussion.
- Emails requesting urgency in processing invoices.
- Slight differences in vendor email addresses or invoice formatting.
- The “lawyer” pressures for quick action, often citing legal consequences.
- Email address differs slightly from the real law firm.
- The sender’s email has subtle differences from the actual executive’s address.
- Requests for bulk gift card purchases without prior notice.
- Urgency, often claiming it’s a “surprise reward” for staff.
How to Identify a Business Email Compromise (BEC) Scam?
Keeping the intensity and advanced techniques cybercriminals use to approach a target it is highly essential to use a multi-layered security method to deal with the underlying threat. You need to act on all fronts such as email protection, access control security, process controls, and user awareness. You have to follow a zero-trust policy against every email request made online. Here are some effective tips that can protect your business from BEC scams:
Enhance Your Email Security
Extra Layer of Security for Emails
You can implement DMARC, SPF, and DKIM to prevent email spoofing and fake senders acting as someone trusted. These are email protocols that block black hats from sending fake emails that appear to come from a trusted source. You can save your employees from phishing and reduce the risk of unsafe transactions using these technologies.
- SPF allows only authorized servers to send you emails on behalf of your domain.
- DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to outgoing emails that help recipients verify that it is not tampered with and all the content is legitimate and exactly what is meant to be.
- DMARC improves upon and enhances the protections SPF and DKIM provide. It instructs email servers on how to manage unauthorized emails and gives reports on fake emails.
Double-Check & Detect Suspicious Activity
Educate Employees & Executives
Educating your employees about scams and fraud is a must to make them aware of new threats going on in the digital space. You should conduct regular security awareness training programs to orient your employees and train them to act cautiously when someone approaches them through emails. Teach them to verify every request made for sensitive information or fund transfers. Scammers create a sense of urgency to bypass security checks. In such a case, create a zero-trust infrastructure in your organization. Tell your employees to trust nothing and verify everything using secondary methods like phone calls, messages, and video chats before accepting the request.
Strengthen Payment & Verification Processes
Create an Incident Response Plan
Always be prepared with a security response plan to tackle cyber attacks. Educate your employees to deal with malicious cyber attacks and protect the digital assets of your company. If a fraudulent transaction takes place make sure to report it to your bank and the cybersecurity investigation cell. Last but not least you should always use advanced cybersecurity tools such as antivirus software, EDR, and XDR technology to deal with the cyber dangers.
Regularly Update Your Security Policies
Use AI and Automation
Integrating AI-driven security measures in your company’s digital infrastructure can help you deal with the latest phishing attacks at a more proactive level. It can constantly monitor incoming and outgoing emails, online activities, and suspicious emails without retiring. AI tools can trace subtle changes, variations in domain spellings, and suspicious email behavior. If someone tries to impersonate a legitimate email with a slight variation of spellings and domain extension it can identify them. The automated flagging systems can generate an alert to the recipient. Using this, you can test the system for security weaknesses to improve the defenses. Most importantly, it operates at a higher accuracy and removes the risk of human error.
