Spotting a Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack is far from straightforward. These threats thrive in the gray area between trust and suspicion, making detection a real challenge for both people and security systems. Unlike typical phishing or spam, BEC emails rarely include suspicious attachments or obvious phishing links. Instead, they’re often just plain text—crafted to slip right past spam filters, antivirus tools, and URL sandboxes without raising any technical red flags.
What makes BEC attacks especially deceptive is that attackers pose as high-ranking executives or trusted business partners. When an email appears to come from your CEO or a regular client, it doesn’t immediately set off alarm bells. Attackers often send messages from either compromised legitimate accounts or extremely convincing look-alike addresses. In many cases, these emails originate from actual hijacked accounts, so the message truly comes from the real CEO’s or supplier’s server.
BEC scams are designed to exploit trust and urgency—the very things that drive business forward. Attackers frequently inject a sense of urgency or secrecy into their requests, using subject lines like “URGENT” or phrases such as “needed by end of day, and I’m in a meeting, so just do this via email.” These tactics are no accident; they’re calculated psychological strategies meant to pressure employees into acting first and questioning later. When someone is focused on pleasing a boss or customer, it’s easy to rush through a request without the usual checks. With generative AI, these emails can be polished and professional, leaving no obvious red flags like awkward grammar or strange phrasing.
The Role of Phishing and Social Engineering in BEC
Phishing and social engineering are really at the heart of how BEC attacks happen. These scams don’t just show up out of nowhere—they’re carefully planned and usually start with a phishing email. An attacker might send a message that looks completely normal, hoping someone will click a link or enter their login details on a fake page. Sometimes, all it takes is for one person to get tricked for the attacker to gain access to a company mailbox.
But phishing isn’t just about breaking in. It’s also about information gathering. Attackers might send emails that seem harmless, just to figure out who handles payments or to pick up on company lingo and internal processes. They’re piecing a puzzle together, and they often use data from all over, including the dark web. It’s surprisingly easy for hackers to buy databases full of executive contact details or even personal info, which makes their fake emails sound all the more convincing.
And it’s not just the seasoned cybercriminals running these schemes. The dark web is full of phishing kits, ready-made templates, and fake login pages that anyone can buy. There are even step-by-step guides and tutorials, so even someone with minimal technical skills can pull off a BEC-style attack if they want to. That’s why these scams are becoming more common and harder to spot: the tools are out there, and the barrier to entry is lower than ever.
How BEC Actors Leverage the Dark Web
It’s no accident that BEC attackers seem so well-prepared. Many draw on the dark web’s bustling cybercriminal marketplaces and forums for resources. The dark web offers anonymity and a thriving underground economy where threat actors can find the tools, data, and collaborators needed to pull off BEC schemes.
Increasingly, BEC operations are run by organized groups rather than lone scammers. On closed forums across the dark and deep web—and even on encrypted apps like Telegram—cybercriminals network and recruit partners for social engineering attacks. Some posts openly advertise for collaborators “interested in making money via BEC,” inviting spammers and hackers to team up.
This underground ecosystem means BEC actors have easy access to both expertise and accomplices. If one attacker doesn’t know how to bypass a particular security filter, another on the forum is likely to share advice or sell a solution. As a result, BEC attackers are rarely isolated tricksters; they’re often part of a broader cybercriminal supply chain. One group might steal credentials and sell them online, another buys those credentials to commit BEC fraud, and yet another handles laundering the stolen funds.
Understanding this complex, collaborative landscape is key to appreciating why BEC attacks remain such a persistent and difficult threat to detect. Monitor for exposed credentials and sensitive data on the dark web with tools like Lunar. Lunar provides early warnings that help identify risks before attackers can exploit them. This multi-layered approach—awareness, process controls, and proactive monitoring—significantly strengthens an organization’s ability to detect and prevent BEC attacks. To learn more, speak to one of our cyber experts today.
