When an email asks you to change payment details
Business email compromise uses no malware and no links. It needs one person to skip one phone call.
How the fraud works
Someone writes to you as a supplier, a manager or a colleague from accounts. The message looks routine. It asks for a small change: new bank details for the next invoice, an urgent transfer that should stay confidential, or a list of gift card codes.
The sender is either using a look-alike address or has taken over a real mailbox. In the second case the message can sit inside a genuine conversation, with the right names and the right invoice numbers.
The one check that stops it
Confirm any change of payment details through a second channel. Call the person on a number you already have, not the number in the message. A two-minute call is cheaper than a transfer that cannot be recalled.
Make this a rule that applies to everyone, including directors. A rule with exceptions for senior people is the rule the fraud is designed to pass.
If the money has already gone
Speed matters more than anything else. Call your bank at once and ask them to recall the payment and contact the receiving bank. Then report it to the police or the national fraud reporting service. Recovery is sometimes possible within the first day or two and rarely after that.
This note is our own plain-language summary. For the full guidance, read the original: https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/common-frauds-and-scams/business-email-compromise
Call the number you already have, never the one in the email.