Secrecy or unusual urgency
The supposed leader asks the employee to act quickly, keep the request confidential, or avoid the normal team.
CEO Fraud Awareness
How to Recognize and Report CEO Fraud
CEO fraud is an impersonation tactic in which an attacker claims to be a senior leader and uses perceived authority to request money, information, access, or an unusual favor.
Use this guide to turn the threat into a clear employee decision, a safe practice scenario, and a reporting step your organization can support.
Plain-English definition • Warning signs • Safe simulation ideas • Reporting practice
01Understand the threat
CEO Fraud: a practical definition
CEO fraud is an impersonation tactic in which an attacker claims to be a senior leader and uses perceived authority to request money, information, access, or an unusual favor.
It is a form of business email compromise centered on executive authority. The message may look simple and credible because the attacker relies on hierarchy, urgency, and discretion rather than a technical payload.
Source: CISA Phishing Guidance
02Recognition clues
Warning signs employees can check in a ceo fraud message
No single clue proves that a message is malicious. Teach employees to combine the request, sender, business context, destination, and available verification route before acting.
Authority without normal context
The request falls outside the executive's usual workflow or the recipient's responsibility.
Bypassed approval
The message treats a payment, document, gift card, credential, or contact change as an exception to established controls.
03Safe response
Move from suspicion to a supported next step
| Moment | Employee action | Program preparation |
|---|---|---|
| Before acting | Use the known internal directory, assistant, manager, or established approval route to confirm the request independently, even when the message appears to come from leadership. | Publish the authentic contact, application, or reporting route somewhere employees can reach without using the message. |
| When uncertain | Pause the request and report it through the approved channel with enough context for review. | Explain what the response team needs and how employees will know that their report was received. |
| After an interaction | Stop, contact the responsible team promptly, and describe the action taken without hiding the mistake. | Provide a well-known response route and avoid communications that discourage early reporting. |
Source: NIST: Recognizing, verifying, and reporting phishing
04Practice safely
CEO Fraud simulation and discussion ideas
Choose one learning objective per exercise. Use fictional people, organizations, accounts, payments, documents, and events, and test the reporting route before sending to employees.
Fictional urgent purchase
Practice escalating an invented gift-card or purchasing request instead of completing it privately.
Sensitive document request
Ask a permitted group to verify an unexpected request for a fictional board or payroll file.
New contact channel
Discuss how employees should respond when a supposed executive asks them to continue the conversation on an unfamiliar number.
05Campaign workflow
Build the exercise around a decision employees can repeat
- 1
Define the behavior
Write down the ceo fraud clue being practiced, the expected action, the authorized audience, and the owner of follow-up.
- 2
Confirm the real process
Test the independent verification route, message-reporting option, response handoff, and employee support path from a representative account.
- 3
Pilot the scenario
Check delivery, links, landing content, accessibility, event records, automated inspection, stop conditions, and the explanation employees will receive.
- 4
Review in context
Reconcile intended recipients, successful deliveries, unique employee events, verified reports, response handling, and completed follow-up before drawing conclusions.
Source: NIST SP 800-50 Rev. 1: Building a Cybersecurity and Privacy Learning Program
06Useful measurement
Evaluate recognition, reporting, and the surrounding process
Record actual counts and denominators for delivery, unique recipient events, reports, and follow-up. Separate automated email inspection and repeat events where the available evidence supports doing so.
A ceo fraud exercise samples one scenario under one set of conditions. It does not establish an employee's intent, overall security awareness, or likelihood of responding the same way to a real attack.
Use findings to improve the real workflow: clearer verification instructions, easier reporting, faster response handling, better role-specific training, or a business control that reduces reliance on email alone.
Common questions
Common questions about Phishmake's features, onboarding, and support, answered to help you get started with confidence.
Is CEO fraud only a finance risk?
No. Finance is a common target, but attackers may seek employee data, confidential documents, account access, purchases, or introductions. Training should reflect the authority each audience actually holds.
Will challenging an executive request slow work?
A documented confirmation route can make verification fast and expected. Leaders can reinforce that employees are supported when they follow the process for unusual or consequential requests.
Can ceo fraud be used in a phishing simulation?
It can be practiced when the scenario is authorized, proportionate, and tied to a real reporting or verification process. Use an approved fictional executive identity or clearly authorized role. Do not exploit a real personal crisis, acquisition, layoff, board event, travel problem, or other sensitive leadership situation.
How should ceo fraud simulation results be measured?
Review successful delivery, unique employee events, reports, response handling, and completed follow-up. Include scenario difficulty and operating context, and do not treat a click or report as a complete measure of employee risk.
Sources & further reading
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