Business Email Compromise and Fake Invoices
Category
Business and Email
Affects
Businesses
Status
Active
Source
FBI IC3
A criminal impersonates a boss, vendor, or customer, or takes over a real mailbox, to redirect a payment or change bank details. The FBI's 2025 IC3 report put BEC losses at roughly $3 billion nationwide, and small Nevada businesses, contractors, title companies, and medical offices are regular victims.
How it works
- An email or call appears to come from an owner, vendor, or title company with new payment instructions.
- The request is urgent and asks you to keep it quiet or skip the usual approval.
- The wire or ACH goes to a mule account and is moved on within hours.
Red flags
- New bank details, a changed routing number, or a rushed wire.
- An email from a lookalike domain or a reply-to that differs from the sender.
- A vendor or executive who cannot be reached by phone on a known number.
What to do
- Call your bank's fraud department at once and ask for a wire recall.
- File at ic3.gov within 24 hours and file a police report.
- Follow the steps in our BEC response guide, and adopt call-back verification for all payment changes.
Already paid or shared information? See the step-by-step checklist and the list of places to report. You can also report to the FTC or the FBI IC3.
From our blog
What to Do After a Business Email Compromise in Nevada · AI Voice Cloning: The New Executive Impersonation Threat in Reno
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Posted solely for community awareness. This is not an official government or law enforcement notice, and High Sierra Cyber is not affiliated with any agency named here. Board last updated October 10, 2026. Details, phone numbers, and policies change, so confirm with the official agency before acting. Submitted reports are unverified. General information only, not legal or financial advice.