Invoice scam

You meant to pay a real supplier. The account number on the invoice, or in a follow-up email, had been switched.

How it tends to unfold

Criminals compromise an email thread, or they send a lookalike message. The name on the bill is familiar. The sort code is not.

What to write down

• A last-minute change of bank details
• A slightly wrong email domain
• Pressure to pay before a deadline
• No callback to a number you already had on file
• A transit and account number you have never paid before

How we frame the bank complaint

Invoice fraud complaints look at whether the firm’s process for changed payee details was followed, and at the name match the customer was shown.

Greg’s case

Greg’s company in Winnipeg paid the same supplier every month. An email arrived inside the existing thread. It said the supplier had changed banks and gave a new account for the $27,400 invoice due on Friday. The domain was one letter off. He paid from National Bank before the accounts person was back from leave.

The real supplier called the following week, still unpaid. The money had gone to an account the company had never used. The name on the bill was familiar. The account was not.

The complaint did not say he had chosen the wrong contractor. It said a changed payee on a known bill had gone through with no callback to the number already on file, and that the name he was shown did not match the account. The payment to the switched account was recovered. The real supplier was paid separately, from the company, as it should have been.

If you meant to pay someone you know, keep the email headers and the old invoice beside the new one. The difference between those two pages is the case.

Client reviews

If the review shows there is no realistic complaint, we will say so. You can still use the claim-yourself guide and go to your bank directly.