---
title: "What is Business email compromise (BEC)? Definition"
description: "Business email compromise is fraud in which criminals use spoofed, lookalike or hijacked business email to trick employees into sending money or..."
url: https://realpayee.com/glossary/business-email-compromise
canonical: https://realpayee.com/glossary/business-email-compromise
date_published: 2026-10-05
date_modified: 2026-10-05
author: RealPayee
---

# Business email compromise (BEC)

> Business email compromise is fraud in which criminals use spoofed, lookalike or hijacked business email to trick employees into sending money or sensitive data. The FBI's IC3 recorded roughly $3.0 billion in BEC losses in 2025; vendor impersonation and CEO fraud are its most common forms.

_Published 2026-10-05 · Updated 2026-10-05 · By RealPayee_

## Related terms

- [Vendor impersonation fraud](https://realpayee.com/glossary/vendor-impersonation): Vendor impersonation fraud is when a criminal poses as a real supplier - usually by compromised or lookalike email - to redirect its payments to a new bank account.
- [CEO fraud](https://realpayee.com/glossary/ceo-fraud): CEO fraud is a scam in which a criminal impersonates a CEO, CFO or other executive to pressure an employee into making an urgent, confidential payment.
- [Account takeover (ATO)](https://realpayee.com/glossary/account-takeover): Account takeover is when a criminal gains control of a legitimate account - an email mailbox, a vendor portal login or an online banking user - and uses it to act as the real owner.
- [Social engineering](https://realpayee.com/glossary/social-engineering): Social engineering is manipulating people - rather than hacking systems - into breaking normal procedures, typically through authority, urgency, secrecy or familiarity.

## Why it matters for finance teams

Most payment fraud reaches AP as a request that looks legitimate. Understanding business email compromise helps your team spot it and apply the right control: verify bank-detail changes and large payment requests with the real person, out-of-band, before money moves. Our free [bank-change policy template](https://realpayee.com/templates/vendor-bank-change-policy) puts that into a written rule.

Full glossary: https://realpayee.com/glossary · All terms as JSON Lines: https://realpayee.com/feeds/glossary.jsonl

## Related

- [CEO fraud and deepfake executive calls: how finance teams stop them](https://realpayee.com/ceo-fraud) - How CEO fraud works - from spoofed emails to deepfake video calls - and the verification steps that stop fake payment requests. (markdown: https://realpayee.com/ceo-fraud.md)
- [Vendor fraud: types, examples and how to prevent it](https://realpayee.com/vendor-fraud) - What vendor fraud is, the most common schemes (vendor impersonation, fake bank changes, fake invoices) and the controls that stop them. (markdown: https://realpayee.com/vendor-fraud.md)
- [Business email compromise examples and how to stop them](https://realpayee.com/blog/business-email-compromise-examples) - Seven business email compromise (BEC) examples finance teams see, the red flags in each, and the specific control that stops it before money moves. (markdown: https://realpayee.com/blog/business-email-compromise-examples.md)
- [Payment fraud statistics 2026](https://realpayee.com/payment-fraud-statistics) - Verified payment fraud statistics for 2026: FBI IC3 business email compromise losses ($3.0B in 2025), AFP survey data on payments fraud, BEC and vendor imposter fraud. Free CSV, free to cite. (markdown: https://realpayee.com/payment-fraud-statistics.md)
- [Who is liable for business email compromise losses?](https://realpayee.com/answers/who-is-liable-for-business-email-compromise-losses) - General information on who bears a business email compromise loss: the payer, the vendor, the bank or an insurer, and the factors that usually decide it. Not legal advice. (markdown: https://realpayee.com/answers/who-is-liable-for-business-email-compromise-losses.md)

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