Business Email Compromise for SMBs
The $55 billion scam hiding in plain sight The most dangerous cyber scam for many small businesses does not look like a hack. It looks like work. An email from a vendor asking to update payment details. A message from the owner asking for an urgent wire. A client note requesting a change in remittance instructions. A lawyer, accountant, or contractor following up on a transaction that feels routine enough to process quickly. That is what makes business email compromise so dangerous. It hides inside normal business behavior. The FBI says BEC is one of the most financially damaging online crimes, and in September 2024 the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported domestic and international exposed losses of $55.5 billion tied to BEC incidents from October 2013 through December 2023 . FBI IC3 PSA The threat is not fading. The FBI’s 2024 IC3 data says there were 21,442 BEC complaints in 2024 with adjusted losses of more than $2.7 billion . FBI IC3 brochure That is why BE...