You’re vulnerable, too, but you don’t have to stay that way. Even sophisticated organizations are susceptible to phishing scams. San Benito County was recently the victim of one. The scammers almost took $700,000 from the county by posing as a construction vendor who slipped falsified information through a vendor change request.

It happened to a county government. It can happen to you.

This was a sophisticated attack on the treasury servers. It looked legitimate enough to fool experienced government employees who handle vendor payments every day.

The scammer's playbook was devastatingly simple: impersonate a trusted construction contractor, submit a vendor change request with new banking details, and wait for the money to flow. But the bank—and the FBI—recovered the funds.

Most cybersecurity requirements remain recommendations rather than mandates, which means many organizations, especially small and mid-sized businesses, operate without basic email authentication protocols. SMB s are highly attractive to scammers because they often have less stringent verification processes and fewer layers of approval for payments.

The Real Cost Goes Beyond the Money

While the fraud was caught in time, the county now faces public scrutiny, emergency meetings, policy overhauls, and the erosion of public trust.

The latest data shows that the average cost of an attack to an SMB is $120,000 - $1,240,000. For a small business this might mean:

• Inability to make payroll

• Damaged vendor relationships when real payments can't be made

• Lost customer confidence

• Potential legal liability if customer data is compromised

• Months or years recovering financially and reputationally

Applying effective security controls enables to conduct your business safely. Think of email security like seatbelts in your car; you can drive without them, but why would you?

Your Email Is Your Front Door

Every invoice request, every vendor communication, every customer inquiry flows through email. Fraud like San Benito County experienced can drain your entire operating capital in one click.

The frustrating part? While this specific vendor impersonation attack requires human verification processes to prevent, there's a bigger picture here. When your own email domain isn't secured, scammers can:

·   Impersonate YOU to your customers, requesting payment to fraudulent accounts

·   Send fake invoices from "your company" to clients who trust you

·   Destroy your reputation when your domain is used for scam campaigns

·   Get your legitimate emails blocked when you're blacklisted for spam you didn't send

This is the email protection already comes with your email system:

·   SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Prevents scammers from spoofing your domain to attack others

·   DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Proves your emails haven't been tampered with in transit

·   DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication): Protects your brand by telling servers to reject fake emails claiming to be from you

While these wouldn't have stopped San Benito's incoming vendor fraud, they're critical for preventing your business from being weaponized against your own customers.

Expensive enterprise solutions or catastrophic scenario planning aren’t the protection SMBs need. Better protection comes from practical, achievable improvements that provide measurable benefits in your day-to-day operations.

 💡 Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Protect your business before scammers strike. Strengthen your email security and safeguard your reputation today.

👉 Book a free security consultation now — let’s secure your domain before attackers do.