BEC fraud prevention
Stop business email compromise before AP pays the scam
BEC attacks don't hack your systems — they manipulate your AP process. Vantirs detects the payment-destination changes, spoofed sender identities, and behavioral anomalies that signal a BEC or VEC attack before your team approves the invoice.
BEC attacks surged 26% in March 2026. 10.7 million incidents in Q1 alone — the highest quarterly total on record.
Microsoft Q1 2026 Email Threat Landscape Report
What Vantirs catches that email security misses
- ✓New beneficiary bank account
Payment going to an account that has never received money from your organization — regardless of how legitimate the sender looks.
- ✓Lookalike sender domain
Domain differs from the vendor's verified identity in your QBO — one character swap, hyphen, or TLD change caught automatically.
- ✓Vendor email compromise (VEC)
Even when the attacker sends from the real vendor inbox, Vantirs catches the payment-destination change that email authentication can't see.
- ✓Invoice amount anomalies
Amounts outside the statistical range for this vendor, flagged with the specific variance so reviewers can decide in context.
How a BEC attack unfolds in your AP workflow
Understanding the attack pattern is the first step to stopping it. BEC isn't random — it's a deliberate, multi-stage process designed to exploit your vendor trust.
Reconnaissance
The attacker researches your vendor relationships via LinkedIn, public contracts, or a prior phishing attempt. They identify which vendors receive regular large payments and when those payments are expected.
Impersonation or compromise
Classic BEC spoofs a lookalike domain (acme-corp.com vs acmecorp.com). Vendor email compromise goes further — the attacker breaches the real vendor inbox and sends from the legitimate address.
The payment-change request
Right before a known payment window, the attacker sends a routine-looking update: "We've changed banks — please route your next payment to the new account below." The context is real. The invoice is expected. Only the destination is fraudulent.
The wire leaves
Without a pre-payment check on the beneficiary, your AP team approves a legitimate-looking request. Funds move through multiple accounts within hours. Average recovery rate: near zero.
The most dangerous variant — vendor email compromise — now makes up 61% of all BEC attacks. Read the full breakdown: BEC vs. VEC: What Finance Teams Need to Know in 2026.
Why your existing controls don't stop VEC
Classic BEC defenses focus on sender identity. Vendor email compromise bypasses every one of them.
| Control | Stops classic BEC? | Stops VEC? | Why it fails against VEC |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMARC / email authentication | Often yes | No | VEC uses a legitimate, authenticated vendor inbox |
| Dual-approval policy | Often yes | No | Both approvers see a legitimate invoice from a known vendor |
| Sender domain verification | Yes | No | Domain is real — no lookalike to catch |
| Vantirs payment-destination check | Yes | Yes | Catches both — checks the beneficiary, not just the sender |
Common questions
What is business email compromise (BEC)?
Business email compromise is an attack where a fraudster impersonates a trusted party — a CEO, vendor, or finance contact — via email to trick your AP team into sending money or changing payment details. The FBI tracked over $2.9 billion in BEC losses in 2024 alone.
What is vendor email compromise (VEC) and how is it different from BEC?
Vendor email compromise is a specific BEC variant where the attacker compromises or impersonates an actual vendor inbox — not an internal executive. Because the email comes from a real, trusted vendor address, standard domain checks fail. VEC now accounts for 61% of all BEC attacks in 2026.
How does Vantirs stop BEC attacks in QuickBooks Online?
Vantirs builds a behavioral fingerprint for each vendor from your QBO payment history. When a BEC or VEC attack attempts to reroute a payment — changing the bank account, sender domain, or invoice amount — Vantirs flags the specific anomaly before your AP team approves, giving them the context to pause and verify.
Can BEC attacks get past DMARC and email security filters?
Yes. Vendor email compromise attacks originate from real, compromised vendor inboxes, so they pass DMARC, DKIM, and standard email authentication. The only reliable control at that point is detecting that the payment destination has changed — which is exactly what Vantirs checks.
Stop the next BEC attack before it costs you
Vantirs connects to QuickBooks Online and flags BEC and VEC payment anomalies before your AP team approves. Live fraud signals within one business day.