The Christmas period, with its flurry of financial transactions, supplier payments and executive absences, presents an ideal environment for Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks. Cybercriminals exploit festive distractions and reduced staffing to impersonate senior executives or trusted suppliers. These fraudulent communications often request urgent payments, changes to bank details, or confidential data. BEC remains one of the most financially damaging forms of cybercrime in Australia, costing organisations millions each year.
Business Email Compromise attacks rely on social engineering and psychological manipulation rather than technical exploitation. Attackers often start by conducting reconnaissance on the organisation, identifying finance staff and executives through LinkedIn or company websites. They then register look-alike domains or compromise legitimate email accounts through phishing or credential stuffing.
Once they gain access or craft a convincing spoof, they send urgent, plausible messages like an email appearing to come from the CEO requesting an ‘end-of-year supplier payment’ before the finance cutoff. Because the requests appear legitimate and time-sensitive, recipients often bypass verification procedures, resulting in funds being transferred to attacker-controlled accounts.
In some cases, attackers compromise supplier accounts and modify invoices so that payments are redirected to fraudulent bank details, creating long-lasting trust and reconciliation issues between business partners.
Scammers stole more than $152.6 million from Australians using BEC attacks in 2024. This was an increase of 66 per cent from 2023, which reported $91.6 million in losses according to the Targeting Scams report by the National Anti-Scams Centre. One notable case involved a NSW-based construction company which received fraudulent invoices totalling $41,800 from criminals who spoofed the email of a trusted supplier.
After making the payment, the victim texted the remittance to the supplier using a known mobile number and was told the bank details were incorrect. The victim immediately reported the incident to police via ReportCyber, who were able to recover the full amount.
In a more unfortunate case, a Tasmanian woman had $120,000 stolen after scammers intercepted her email correspondence with a construction company she had hired to renovate her home. Using a spoofed email address that closely mimicked the legitimate business, the criminals claimed the company had updated its banking details and sent a new invoice. The invoice was an exact replica of the original, except the payment details had been replaced with the scammers’ account. Due to a delay in reporting, the money was not recoverable.
The ACSC’s Essential Eight provides robust protection against the root causes of Business Email Compromise by reducing the likelihood of account compromise, limiting attacker movement, and enabling rapid recovery:
Together, these controls not only reduce the technical risk of compromise but also support governance and compliance obligations under the Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act and Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
A strong combination of Essential Eight maturity, staff vigilance, and process integrity ensures organisations stay on the ‘Nice List,’ protecting both finances and reputation during the festive season.
