Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG): Phishing Activity Trends Report for Q4 2025

Fortra is featured in the Q4 2025 APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report for its analysis of Business Email Compromise activity and attacker behavior. Fortra examined thousands of BEC attacks during the quarter and identified a 136 percent increase in wire transfer attempts. The average request amount rose to 50,297 dollars. The report also highlights Scripted Sparrow, a threat group that has become the most prolific BEC actor worldwide. The group sends as many as 6 million targeted emails each month and frequently leverages spoofed executive approval chains. 

Originally published in APWG. 

Excerpt: “Scripted Sparrow, whose members hail from South Africa, Nigeria, the U.S., and Turkey, uses a spoofed reply chain designed to trick the recipient into believing the expense was approved by a company executive.”