Business Email Compromise (BEC) is one of the costliest categories of fraud facing UK companies of every size. It typically involves a fraudster impersonating a genuine supplier, executive, or colleague by email, to redirect a real payment to a fraudulent account.
Fake supplier invoice: a genuine-looking invoice arrives with subtly altered bank details, sometimes following a genuine email thread the fraudster has been silently monitoring.
CEO fraud: an email appearing to come from a senior executive urgently requests a payment or gift card purchase, exploiting hierarchy to discourage questioning.
Compromised email account: a genuine business email account is hacked and used to send fraudulent payment requests from within real conversation threads, making detection especially difficult.
Implement a verification policy requiring a phone call (to a known, independently verified number) before changing any payment details or processing an unusual payment request.
Use our free Companies House verification tool to confirm a supplier's registered details before large payments, particularly for new suppliers.
Enable multi-factor authentication on all business email accounts to reduce the risk of compromise.
If a fraudulent payment has been made, contact your bank immediately — faster reporting significantly improves recovery chances. Report it to Report Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk (Action Fraud is now Report Fraud, following the December 2025 rebrand).
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