Cyber Brief: Payment Fraud Trends and Business Email Compromise

Security reporting today highlights continued growth in fraudulent payment requests and evolving business email compromise tactics. As financial workflows become increasingly digital, attackers are refining their social engineering approaches to exploit trust and urgency.

Fraudulent Payment Requests Continue to Target Finance Teams

Recent analysis shows attackers are using increasingly sophisticated business email compromise techniques to send fraudulent payment requests that appear legitimate. These often involve impersonating senior leadership, trusted suppliers, or finance contacts to trigger urgent transactions.

Rather than exploiting technical vulnerabilities, these campaigns rely on social engineering and workflow manipulation.

Why it matters
Financial fraud can cause significant operational disruption and reputational impact. Strengthening verification processes and embedding security within payment workflows reduces exposure.

Source: Payment fraud reporting

Business Email Compromise Techniques Evolve

Security research indicates that BEC campaigns are adapting to bypass traditional email filtering controls. Attackers are using compromised accounts, refined language patterns, and detailed reconnaissance to increase credibility.

In some cases, attackers monitor email threads before intervening at a strategic moment.

Why it matters
Technical controls alone are not enough. Continuous validation of email security configuration and clear internal approval processes are essential to reducing risk.

Source: Email security analysis

Workflow Controls Under Increased Scrutiny

Reporting also highlights that organisations with multi-step approval processes and out-of-band verification experience significantly lower impact from fraudulent requests. Where single-step approvals exist, risk increases.

Clear accountability and process validation play a key role in resilience.

Why it matters
Strong internal controls protect both finances and trust. Aligning people, process, and technology strengthens overall business confidence.

Source: Financial security commentary

Today’s Key Actions

1. Review payment approval workflows for single points of failure
2. Validate email authentication controls and policy configuration
3. Introduce secondary verification for high-value transactions
4. Conduct targeted awareness sessions for finance teams

Secarma Insight

Financial fraud evolves alongside digital transformation. By combining strong identity controls, validated email security configurations, and clear approval processes, organisations can reduce exposure while maintaining operational efficiency and trust.

If you would like support reviewing payment workflows or strengthening email security resilience, speak to the Secarma team:
https://secarma.com/contact