Train employees to pause when a request is unexpected or urgent, verify sensitive instructions through a trusted channel they find independently, and report suspicious contact through a clear internal route. Use realistic examples from email, text, phone, and social media, then reinforce the habits with updated guidance and suitable practice. Training works best alongside verification policies and technical safeguards—not as a substitute for them.
Start with the behavior employees should follow
Before teaching people to spot every possible scam, give them a simple response they can use when something feels off:
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- Pause. Do not let urgency, intimidation, or fear rush a decision. Pressure can be a tactic to stop someone from checking a claim. The FTC and NIST both advise taking time before acting on an urgent request. FTC guidance on business scams and NIST phishing guidance explain these risks.
- Do not disclose or transfer. Do not provide credentials or sensitive information, open an unexpected link, or send money based only on an unverified message.
- Verify independently. For a sensitive request, contact the person or organization through a known phone number or another established channel. Find the contact details separately; do not rely on the suspicious message’s links, phone number, or reply address. The FTC recommends confirming unusual requests using a trusted contact method. FTC guidance on protecting personal information
- Report it. Use the company’s designated reporting channel, even if the message turns out to be legitimate. If the employee has already clicked, shared information, or sent money, they should report that promptly too.
Make clear that employees are not expected to prove a message is malicious before reporting it. A cue is a reason to check, not proof on its own.
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Teach the cues across every channel
Impersonation can arrive through email, text, social media, or a phone call. Attackers may pose as a manager, coworker, vendor, customer, or trusted organization. NIST and the FTC describe these channels and tactics in their phishing guidance and business scam guide.
- Unexpected requests: A message asks for a payment, gift card, password, sensitive data, or an account change that the employee did not expect.
- Pressure to act quickly: The sender creates a deadline, threatens consequences, or urges secrecy to discourage verification.
- Unusual channel or context: A familiar person makes a request through a new number, personal email, social account, or other unexpected route.
- Sender details that do not fit: The display name, address, number, or account does not match what the employee normally sees, or the message’s details seem inconsistent.
- Links or prompts that seek access: A message asks the employee to sign in, reset a password, or provide credentials through an unexpected link or prompt.
Teach employees to consider the whole context rather than rely on a single tell. A familiar name or plausible-looking message is not enough to establish that a request is genuine.
Build practice around work employees actually do
Use scenarios that reflect the organization’s real workflows and the people employees interact with. The FTC highlights business impersonation and phishing patterns, including urgent requests that appear to come from senior staff. FTC guidance on business impersonators
A manager requests an urgent payment
Present a message that appears to come from an executive and asks an employee to make a payment quickly or keep the request confidential. Ask the employee to identify the pressure cue, avoid acting on the message alone, and confirm the request with the manager through a known channel.
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A vendor changes payment details
Use a realistic invoice or message announcing a new bank account. The employee should follow the organization’s established process for confirming payment changes using previously verified contact details—not a number or link included in the change request.
A password-reset prompt arrives unexpectedly
Show an email or text that asks the employee to sign in or reset a password. The correct response is to avoid the message’s link and use the company’s normal sign-in route or report the prompt to the designated security contact.
A new hire receives an unusual request
Include onboarding examples in which someone claiming to be a manager, HR contact, or IT support asks for information or action outside the new employee’s normal process. Give new hires a clear person or channel to check with before responding.
After each scenario, discuss the decision process: what made the request worth checking, how to verify it safely, and where to report it. The goal is a repeatable habit, not memorizing a list of suspicious phrases.
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Training cannot supply an internal phone number, reporting button, or team name that is the same for every organization. Each employer should state its own route clearly and show employees where to find it. The FTC recommends giving staff a way to report suspicious activity. FTC Cybersecurity for Small Business
Tell employees what information to include when reporting—for example, the message or call details and whether they clicked, replied, shared information, or sent funds. Provide a straightforward way to preserve or forward suspicious messages that does not require employees to interact further with the sender.
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If someone has already acted, emphasize immediate reporting rather than blame. A fast report gives the organization a chance to respond under its incident procedures. The training should point to those procedures without asking employees to investigate or confront the suspected sender themselves.
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Keep examples and communications current as scams and workplace tools change. The FTC advises regular employee training and says businesses may consider phishing simulations. It identifies Microsoft and KnowBe4 as providers of free phishing simulators; that mention is not an endorsement. FTC Cybersecurity for Small Business
If you use simulated phishing, treat it as practice and an opportunity to improve the training—not as proof that an employee or team is safe or careless. Message difficulty affects how easy a simulated email is for a person to detect. NIST’s Phish Scale User Guide, Technical Note 2276, published November 15, 2023, describes a method for implementers to rate that human detection difficulty. It does not guarantee fewer incidents, and the reviewed guidance does not establish a universal pass score, training frequency, or percentage improvement.
When choosing or evaluating a training approach, check whether it:
- Covers the channels and scenarios employees actually encounter.
- Teaches independent verification and gives a clear reporting route.
- Can be refreshed as threats and internal processes change.
- Accounts for simulation difficulty when interpreting practice results.
Pair training with organizational safeguards
Employees should not have to rely on judgment alone to prevent a payment or account change from causing harm. Set a formal independent-confirmation process for high-risk actions such as wire transfers and changes to vendor payment details. The FTC’s small-business cybersecurity guidance also points to email authentication, current security tools, and a process for reporting suspicious messages. FTC Cybersecurity for Small Business
Make the policy and training agree: employees need to know which requests require confirmation, which channels count as trusted, and what happens after they report a concern. Training builds recognition and response habits; organizational controls reduce the chance that one mistaken action becomes a successful attack.
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