Business email compromise (BEC)

A fraud pattern in which a criminal impersonates a trusted party, such as a title company, vendor, or employer, through a fraudulent or hijacked email account, in order to redirect a legitimate wire transfer or ACH payment to a criminal-controlled account. BEC is one of the most commonly reported categories in FBI IC3 annual reporting.

A targeted phishing attack where an attacker impersonates a trusted business contact (executive, vendor, colleague) to trick the recipient into transferring funds, sharing credentials, or taking other harmful actions. AI has made BEC attacks more convincing and more frequent.

A fraud in which an attacker impersonates an executive, vendor, or trusted party (often by email, increasingly reinforced with AI voice or video) to induce a fraudulent payment or data disclosure.

A fraud pattern in which a criminal spoofs or compromises a business or organizational email account to trick an employee into wiring funds to a fraudulent account, often disguised as a routine vendor payment or executive instruction. A major category of Financial Fraud Kill Chain recoveries.

A fraud scheme in which a criminal impersonates a company executive, vendor, or trusted contact by email to trick an employee into wiring company funds to a fraudulent account; the stolen funds are frequently routed through money mule accounts before reaching the criminal's own accounts.