Fortra's business email compromise research is featured in APWG's Phishing Activity Trends Report, 2nd Quarter 2026, highlighting significant growth in BEC activity and increasingly costly wire transfer scams. The report found that wire transfer BEC attacks increased 88% quarter over quarter, while the average requested transfer amount rose 45% to $61,732. The report also includes insights from John Wilson, Senior Fellow, Threat Research at Fortra, on the Scripted Sparrow threat group and the evolving tactics organizations should be prepared to defend against.
"Scripted Sparrow continues to be the dominant BEC threat group on the planet. Scripted Sparrow utilizes fake executive coaching invoices and a spoofed reply chain between the coaching firm and a company executive to lend credibility to their scheme."
— John Wilson, APWG Phishing Activity Trends Report, 2nd Quarter 2026
