Business E-mail Compromise Communications
Guidance when fraud is discovered and trust is on the line
Business E-mail Compromise (BEC) incidents often begin quietly and escalate quickly. Unlike ransomware or large-scale data breaches, BEC incidents typically involve financial fraud, executive impersonation, or vendor payment manipulation and are frequently discovered only after funds have moved or sensitive actions have occurred.
Resolute Strategic Services helps organizations manage communications following a BEC incident, ensuring internal coordination, external messaging and decision-making protect trust, credibility and ongoing investigations.
Why BEC incidents create unique communications risk
BEC incidents differ from other cyber events because they often involve:
- Financial loss or attempted fraud
- Executive or employee impersonation
- Vendor or customer payment manipulation
- Sensitive internal control failures
- Law enforcement and banking coordination
These events raise immediate concerns about accountability, internal controls and confidence in leadership, even when the organization is itself a victim.
Key questions organizations face after a BEC incident
Once a BEC incident is identified, leadership is often confronted with difficult questions:
- Do we need to inform employees, vendors or customers?
- How do we communicate without assigning blame?
- What should be shared while funds recovery is underway?
- How do we protect ongoing law enforcement or banking efforts?
- What if a vendor or customer is already aware?
- How do we prevent speculation or loss of confidence internally?
Clear communications strategy helps prevent a contained fraud incident from becoming a broader reputational issue.
Where BEC communications commonly go wrong
Organizations frequently struggle with:
- Over-communicating before facts are verified
- Under-communicating internally, leading to rumors
- Poor coordination between finance, legal, IT and leadership
- Messages that unintentionally imply negligence or fault
- Inconsistent explanations provided to different audiences
These missteps can complicate recovery efforts and damage trust.
How Resolute supports BEC communications
We provide targeted communications guidance tailored to the realities of BEC incidents, including:
- Internal communications strategy for employees and leadership
- Vendor and partner messaging when payment or impersonation is involved
- Executive counsel regarding tone, accountability and transparency
- Coordination with legal, banking, and law enforcement considerations
- Prepared responses for external inquiries, if needed
- Post-incident communications planning to reinforce controls and confidence
Our role is to help organizations communicate clearly, responsibly and consistently, without escalating the situation or undermining recovery efforts.
When organizations typically seek BEC communications support
Organizations often reach out when:
- A fraudulent wire or payment request has occurred
- An executive or employee has been impersonated
- A vendor or customer has raised concerns
- Funds recovery efforts are underway
- Leadership needs guidance on what to communicate and what not to
If you are uncertain how much to say or who needs to know, communications guidance can help reduce risk.
Two ways Resolute can help
Why organizations turn to Resolute
Experience supporting organizations through real BEC and fraud incidents
Practical guidance focused on trust, accountability, and clarity
Strong coordination with legal, financial, and operational teams
Trusted advisor to executives during sensitive internal situations
BEC incidents test confidence in systems and leadership. We help organizations preserve both.