BEC and wire fraud with an Italian counterparty
Updated to
In short: the classic fraud is an email "from" your Italian supplier announcing new bank details. In US law this can be wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343); in practice, you protect yourself by confirming any change through a second channel before you wire. Veryfy's free Check anti-truffa tests the email domain, the website and the IBAN you were given.
Part of the guide Vetting an Italian company or counterparty: a guide for US businesses.
What the US authorities say
- The FBI IC3 calls business email compromise (BEC) a sophisticated scam targeting businesses and individuals who perform legitimate transfer-of-funds requests. Its 2024 public service announcement reports, for October 2013 to December 2023, 305,033 domestic and international incidents and $55,499,915,582 in exposed dollar loss (FBI IC3 PSA).
- The same PSA recommends using secondary channels or two-factor authentication to verify requests for changes in account information, and checking that the sender's address and the URLs in emails match the business they claim to come from.
- FinCEN's advisory FIN-2019-A005, issued July 16, 2019, is titled "Updated Advisory on Email Compromise Fraud Schemes Targeting Vulnerable Business Processes" (FinCEN advisory FIN-2019-A005).
- Wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, carries up to 20 years in prison, or up to 30 years where it affects a financial institution (LII: 18 U.S. Code § 1343).
Before you wire to Italy
- Call a phone number you already hold, not one from the email, to confirm any new IBAN.
- Compare the sender domain with the domain on the company's earlier invoices.
- Check that the company exists in Registro Imprese (Registro Imprese, the Italian business register portal (InfoCamere)).
- Run the anti-scam check on the email, website and IBAN.
If money has already left
Act the same day: contact your bank and file at www.ic3.gov, as the IC3 advises. The IC3 notes it may be able to assist financial institutions and law enforcement in freezing funds.
Run the check
Every company product comes with a free Check anti-truffa (anti-scam check): it looks at the VAT number in the EU VIES register, free webmail or disposable email, domain age, domains flagged for malware or phishing, SPF and DMARC protection, the VAT number shown on the website, data breaches affecting the site, and whether the IBAN is correctly written and from a country consistent with the company.
The check comes with any company product, from Verifica at €19. Prices are one-off and in euros.
The service and the report are in Italian, built from Italian official sources: company names, offices and procedures keep their original Italian wording. Veryfy does not offer a translated report.
Frequently asked questions
What is business email compromise?
The FBI's IC3 describes it as a scam that targets businesses and individuals who perform legitimate transfer-of-funds requests, often by compromising legitimate email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion.
What should I do if I wired money to a fraudulent account?
The FBI IC3 advises contacting your financial institution immediately to request a recall, and filing a complaint with www.ic3.gov as soon as possible, whatever the amount lost.
Does Veryfy check an IBAN?
The free Check anti-truffa checks that the IBAN is correctly written and from a country consistent with the company. It does not confirm that the account belongs to the company.
More in this cluster
Hub: Vetting an Italian company or counterparty: a guide for US businesses. Related guides:
- EIN vs partita IVA: vetting an Italian supplier
- Beneficial ownership of an Italian S.r.l. for US KYC
- US judgments in Italy and serving documents there
- Chapter 15 vs Italian insolvency proceedings
- Acquiring an Italian SME: due diligence and golden power
- Italian property and heirs: checks for US owners
- Italian company report glossary for US readers
- Italian company credit report: what a US buyer gets
- Italian VAT number lookup: how to check a partita IVA
- Collecting an unpaid invoice from an Italian customer
- Paying an Italian supplier: name-to-IBAN checks before you wire
- OFAC screening of an Italian company's owners
- Monitoring an Italian customer: ongoing due diligence
- Buying property in Italy from the US: check the seller and title
- Inheriting property in Italy: succession filing for US heirs
All guides: Guides.
Sources
Official sources opened and read on October 24, 2026 (2026-10-24).
- FBI IC3: Business Email Compromise PSA
- FinCEN: advisory FIN-2019-A005
- LII: 18 U.S. Code § 1343, fraud by wire
- Registro Imprese, the Italian business register portal (InfoCamere)
General information, not legal advice. Sources verified on 2026-10-24.
Frequently asked questions
What is business email compromise?
The FBI's IC3 describes it as a scam that targets businesses and individuals who perform legitimate transfer-of-funds requests, often by compromising legitimate email accounts through social engineering or computer intrusion.
What should I do if I wired money to a fraudulent account?
The FBI IC3 advises contacting your financial institution immediately to request a recall, and filing a complaint with www.ic3.gov as soon as possible, whatever the amount lost.
Does Veryfy check an IBAN?
The free Check anti-truffa checks that the IBAN is correctly written and from a country consistent with the company. It does not confirm that the account belongs to the company.
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