BEC Scams Remain a Billion-Dollar Enterprise, Targeting 6K Businesses Monthly

Business email compromise (BEC) scams are not going away anytime soon. For such a relatively low-tech type of financial fraud, it has proved to be a high-yield and lucrative enterprise for scammers.

BEC scams—also known as email account compromise (EAC), CEO fraud, or whaling—have been around since at least 2013. Between October 2013 and May 2018, more than $12 billion in domestic and international losses were attributed by the FBI to BEC scams.

According to the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Report (ICR), losses from BEC scams amounted to almost $1.3 billion in 2018. This is double the losses in 2017, which stood at $676 million.

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Homeland Security Today

The Government Technology & Services Coalition's Homeland Security Today (HSToday) is the premier news and information resource for the homeland security community, dedicated to elevating the discussions and insights that can support a safe and secure nation. A non-profit magazine and media platform, HSToday provides readers with the whole story, placing facts and comments in context to inform debate and drive realistic solutions to some of the nation’s most vexing security challenges.

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