The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) announced “Domestic and international exposed dollar loss: $26,201,775,589 “ by BEC/EAC which “…is a sophisticated scam that targets both businesses and individuals who perform legitimate transfer-of-funds requests…. The scam is not always associated with a transfer-of-funds request. One variation involves compromising legitimate business email accounts and requesting employees’ Personally Identifiable Information or Wage and Tax Statement (W-2) forms.”  The September 10, 2019 FBI Public Service Announcement entitled “BUSINESS EMAIL COMPROMISE THE $26 BILLION SCAM” included these comments:

The BEC/EAC scam continues to grow and evolve, targeting small, medium, and large business and personal transactions.

Between May 2018 and July 2019, there was a 100 percent increase in identified global exposed losses.

The increase is also due in part to greater awareness of the scam, which encourages reporting to the IC3 and international and financial partners.

The scam has been reported in all 50 states and 177 countries.

Fraudulent transfers have been sent to at least 140 countries.

Based on the financial data, banks located in China and Hong Kong remain the primary destinations of fraudulent funds.

However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has seen an increase of fraudulent transfers sent to the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Turkey.

I sure wish we could get some control over BEC/EAC!