BEC Investigation for Small Business

If your small business was hit by a business email compromise or a fraudulent wire, E3 Legacy Intel gives you the investigation the enterprise firms reserve for six-figure clients: we trace the money, identify who is behind it, and support recovery. As licensed investigators (FL A-1400197), we scope the work to a small business budget without cutting the parts that matter. Act within the first 72 hours.

Small businesses are the most common target of business email compromise and the least served after it happens. The enterprise incident-response firms want a retainer larger than your loss. We built this for you.

The Small Business Gap

When a small business loses a wire, the enterprise incident-response firms quote a retainer that dwarfs the loss, and the bank says it did nothing wrong. So most small businesses do nothing, and the criminals count on it. We close that gap: the investigation that actually drives recovery, scoped to the size of your loss instead of an enterprise budget.

The First 72 Hours

STEP 1

Call your bank

Report the wire as fraudulent and demand a recall, and ask them to initiate a SWIFT recall on the receiving bank.

STEP 2

File at FBI IC3

Report at ic3.gov within 72 hours and flag it for the Recovery Asset Team, which can request a freeze on a qualifying wire.

STEP 3

Preserve everything

Save all emails, headers, and the fraudulent invoice or instructions. Reset credentials from a clean device.

STEP 4

Call us

We take it from there: trace the funds, identify the accounts and actors, and build what you need for recovery and insurance.

Trace the Money. Name the Actor.

💰

Follow the funds

We trace the wire through the mule network to where the money went and document each hop for a recall and a claim.

🔎

Name the actors

We identify who is behind the fraudulent accounts and communications, not just an IP address.

📧

Close the hole

We determine how the compromise happened, phishing, credential theft, or a vendor breach, so it does not repeat.

Scoped To Your Size

🏷

Right-sized engagement

We scope to the loss and the questions that matter, so the investigation makes financial sense for a small business.

📋

Insurance-ready

A documentation package built for a cyber or crime policy claim, often the fastest path to getting made whole.

⚖

Recovery routes

Support for bank recall, IC3 Recovery Asset Team, and the civil options your attorney can pursue against the accounts.

Stay Protected

✅

Vendor-payment verification

An affordable ongoing program that verifies new or changed payee bank details before you pay, stopping the most common BEC loss.

📡

Post-incident monitoring

We watch your environment for 90 days after the engagement for re-compromise, new inbox rules, and credential reuse.

Frequently Asked Questions

My business is small. Is a wire fraud investigation worth it?
Usually yes, if the loss is meaningful to you and you act quickly. An investigation supports a bank recall, an insurance claim, and a law enforcement referral, and it answers how the breach happened so it does not repeat. We scope the work to the size of the loss so it makes sense.
We cannot afford a six-figure incident-response retainer. What are our options?
This is exactly the gap we fill. The large IR firms price small businesses out. We deliver the investigation that matters, following the money and identifying who is behind it, scoped and priced for a small business rather than an enterprise.
Can you find out who is behind the attack?
Yes. Where IR vendors stop at how the intrusion happened, we identify who is behind it, map the mule accounts, and follow the funds to a standard that supports recovery, an insurance claim, and law enforcement.
Will this help our insurance claim?
Yes. Many cyber and crime policies expect documentation of the compromise and the loss. We produce an evidence package your carrier and counsel can act on, which often makes the difference on a claim.
How fast should we act?
Within the first 72 hours. A domestic wire over 50,000 dollars reported to the FBI IC3 within that window can qualify for a Recovery Asset Team freeze, and the bank recall window closes fast once funds are withdrawn.

Your Examiner

Matt Aubin, CDFE, FBCI

Managing Partner, E3 Legacy Intel · FL Licensed Investigator A-1400197

Every matter on this page is worked under a named, licensed examiner. Matt Aubin brings seventeen years in cybercrime and open source intelligence. He is a Certified Digital Forensics Examiner (CDFE), a Florida Board Certified Investigator (FBCI), and a Certified AI Agent Developer, and he has investigated cases jointly with the FBI, the SEC, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Marshals.

His work has been featured on ABC News, Spectrum News, and The Daily Beast, and in a television pilot for Netflix and MAC Pictures as a cybercrime expert. He keynotes nationally and serves on the Board of Directors of the Florida Association of Licensed Investigators (FALI). About Matt Aubin

LET’S TALK

Bring us the problem. We will tell you plainly whether investigation can help.

Fill out this form and set up a discovery call with us. From there we will analyze the issues you are having and determine your intelligence needs. Then we will develop a custom, no-obligation quote for our services, delivered in writing before you commit to anything.

Tell us what happened

A licensed examiner reads every inquiry. You get a written, flat fee quote before any work starts. Or call (877) 732-6648.