Invoice fraud

Is this invoice real? How to stop invoice fraud.

Invoice fraud is one of the costliest email scams a business faces, and one of the hardest to spot, because the con is a document you handle every day: a bill. It might be a fake invoice for something you never ordered, a real one with the bank details quietly swapped, or a duplicate of a payment you have already made. Here is how it reaches you, and how to check before you pay.

The forms it takes

Invoice fraud is not one trick. It usually arrives as one of these:

  • A fake invoice for goods or a service you never bought, hoping it slips through with everything else.
  • A real, expected invoice that has been intercepted, with only the bank details changed.
  • A duplicate of an invoice you have already paid, sent again in the hope of a second payment.
  • An overpayment or refund twist, where you are asked to send money back to a new account.

Why it works

A bill does not raise an alarm. It arrives looking like admin, not danger, often mid-thread on a real order, at a moment you were already expecting to pay. If the criminal has broken into a supplier's email account, the invoice really is genuine, and only the account number is wrong. Nothing feels off, because almost nothing is.

The red flags to check

  • A charge you cannot tie to an order. No purchase order, no order you actually placed, no record on your side.
  • Bank details that differ from the ones you hold. A change of account, especially with any urgency, is the biggest warning sign of all.
  • A sender address that is subtly wrong, or a reply-to that differs from the sender.
  • A duplicate of an invoice you believe you have already paid.
  • Pressure to pay today, or a nudge to keep the exchange to email.

How to check before you pay

Match every invoice to your own records before it is paid, and treat any change of bank details as a stop sign. When something does not line up, phone the supplier on a number you already have, never the one on the invoice, and confirm the amount and the account with a person you know. Two minutes on the phone beats a payment you cannot get back.

Not sure about an invoice email? Forward it, free.

Send it to Sender Registry and we assess the sender, the domain, and what the wider network already knows about it. No account, no card. You get a plain-English verdict back.

Or analyse the email yourself, free →

Common questions

What is invoice fraud?

It is any scam that uses a bill to take your money. A criminal sends a fake invoice for something you never bought, alters a real one so the payment goes to their account, or resends a genuine invoice with the bank details changed. The result is always the same: a payment that looks routine leaving your account.

How can I tell a fake invoice from a real one?

Match it against your own records. A genuine invoice ties to a purchase order or an order you actually placed, from a supplier you use, with bank details you already hold. Anything that does not match, especially a new account or an unexpected charge, needs a phone call to the supplier before you pay.

The invoice looks completely genuine. Could it still be fraud?

Yes. Criminals often intercept a real invoice and change only the bank details, so everything else is authentic. That is why the bank account is the thing to verify, on a phone number you already have rather than one printed on the invoice.

We paid a fraudulent invoice. What do we do now?

Contact your bank immediately, because a quick report can sometimes stop or recall the payment. Report it to Action Fraud in the UK, tell the genuine supplier, and review who had access to the email account in case it was compromised.

The most common form of invoice fraud is a supplier changing their bank details: see that one in detail →  ·  how to spot a phishing email →