BEC Email Trends: Attacks up 15% in 2025

LevelBlue SpiderLabs reports a 15% increase in Business Email Compromise (BEC) activity in 2025 versus 2024, based on MailMarshal telemetry, averaging ~3,000 intercepted BEC messages per month (peak 4,300). The analysis catalogs popular lures (e.g., Request For Contact, Payroll Diversion, invoice fraud), common impersonated entities (executives, vendors, debt collectors, IT staff), top sender infrastructure (predominantly freemail, with Gmail >65%), and evolving tactics including dual-channel attacks (SMS/WhatsApp), callback phishing, multi-persona fake threads, newborn domains/contact-details swapping, and increased use of generative AI; it concludes with recommended user training, strong financial verification controls, and identity/access management.