BEC Fraud Losses Exceed $3 Billion as Pig Butchering and Investment Scams Increase
Business email compromise (BEC) fraud losses have exceeded $3 billion in 2020, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). This is a staggering increase from the $1.7 billion reported in 2019. BEC fraud is a type of cybercrime in which criminals impersonate executives or other company officials to deceive employees into transferring money or sensitive data. The most common type of BEC fraud is the “CEO scam,” in which the criminal poses as a company executive and requests a wire transfer to an account they control. However, criminals