What Is a Business Email Compromise Scam?

These attacks are a targeted scam where cybercriminals gain access to a company email account, usually through spoofing a company email or using phishing tactics, and use it to impersonate someone inside your organization. Their goal is to trick employees or vendors into sending money, transferring sensitive data, or clicking malicious links.

Unlike ransomware, these scams don’t make a lot of noise. You won’t get locked out of your system or see flashing warnings. Instead, the attackers will blend in. They reply to real email threads, use familiar names, and they’ll wait until the timing is perfect to make their move.

One day, someone on your team gets an email that looks like it came from the CEO, asking them to urgently wire $74,000 to a vendor. Except it didn’t come from the CEO at all, and when it’s sent, that money is gone.

What To Watch For

Most business email attacks look completely legitimate, but you may start to notice subtle red flags. Vendors might reach out about invoices you thought were paid or a colleague may reference a conversation you never had. You might receive password reset emails for accounts you don’t use, and if you're lucky enough to catch it early, you'll see suspicious forwarding rules or inbox activity you didn’t authorize.

What To Do If You’ve Been Targeted

If you suspect someone’s hijacked your business email or used it to trick others, start by locking down access to the compromised account. Change passwords immediately, and if possible, terminate all active logins connected to the account. Then check through your other company accounts for any unauthorized activity, because it’s likely the attacker was looking around elsewhere too.

After all of the targeted accounts are found, run a full malware scan, using trusted tools like Malwarebytes, on any device that’s been used to access the compromised accounts. The final step is to reset any passwords with unique and secure logins with 2-factor authentication to prevent most breaches and future cross-account attacks.

If any financial transactions occurred, notify your bank right away. Timing is critical and there’s a narrow window to recall fraudulent transfers.

You’ll also need to inform anyone affected, including customers, vendors, or employees. This helps keep them from being affected by the attack and shows you’re proactively working to solve the compromise from the moment you learned about the situation.

Getting Ahead of An Email Compromise

The best time to prepare for these attacks is before it happens. Strong email security, multi-factor authentication, and employee training are your first lines of defense. Ongoing monitoring and risk assessments from an internal or external security team help ensure attackers don’t slip through the cracks. If you don’t already have a cyber security team, now’s the time to work with the best!

Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late

Business email compromise scams don’t just cost money, they cost trust, reputation, and time. If your organization isn’t protected, you're gambling with your data.

With White Hat Rescue, we help companies across healthcare, finance, energy, government agencies, and education lock down their email systems, stop advanced threats, and meet strict compliance requirements. Whether you’ve already been hit or want to know how exposed you may be, we’re ready to help.

Contact our team today to get started keeping your company’s online presence protected.

Book a third-party cybersecurity assessment now.

Because waiting isn't a strategy. It's a risk.