The Fake Invoice Incident: How Businesses Get Scammed

This is the story of how our company almost fell victim to a fake invoice scam. It was a busy day in the accounts department. The team was processing payments when an invoice came in from one of our regular suppliers. The invoice looked legitimate—same format, same contact details. It even included the correct purchase order number. There was nothing out of the ordinary, so the payment was scheduled to go out. But just before the payment was processed, our accounts manager noticed something unusual. The bank account details on the invoice didn’t match the ones we had on file for the supplier. It was a small detail, easily overlooked, but it raised a red flag.