Security News > 2020 > June > 2020 sees rise in invoice and payment fraud BEC attacks
An especially popular type of BEC attack is one that uses invoice or payment fraud to steal money from the targeted organization.
In the first three months of 2020, invoice and payment fraud BEC attacks increased more than 75%. But the rise was even more pronounced from April to May. Over that period, the volume of these types of BEC campaigns shot up by 200% per week, with a 36% jump in the number of organizations hit by these attacks.
Among all kinds of BEC attacks, invoice and payment fraud scams accounted for 14% in April, rising to 17% in May. These kinds of scams work by trying to convince an employee to purchase gift cards or coaxing a financial or payroll employee to change a fellow worker's direct deposit account information.
Over the span of two months, the person emailed several employees trying to convince someone to change banking details and redirect payment of a legitimate invoice for more than $700,000 to the attacker's account.
"While all business email compromise attacks can lead to significant financial loss, those focused on invoice and payment fraud can have an even greater financial impact," Abnormal Security CEO and co-founder Evan Reiser said in a press release.