PURPOSE Attackers often impersonate executives to pressure employees into sending money, files, credentials, or approvals. COMMON SIGNS Fake executive requests may be urgent, vague, secretive, unusually informal, or sent from a lookalike email address or unknown phone number. WHAT TO CHECK Review the sender address, writing style, request type, and whether the action bypasses normal process. VERIFY Contact the executive or assistant through a known trusted channel, not by replying to the suspicious message. BEST PRACTICE Authority does not cancel verification.