Fake Invoice Scam Patterns
Launch library · evergreen read
Fake invoices carefully imitate the format of genuine billing correspondence, hoping a busy recipient simply pays without checking whether the underlying service or product was ever actually ordered by anyone at the company. They often target businesses specifically, exploiting routine payment processes that typically involve less individual scrutiny than a personal purchase normally would.
Details worth checking closely include whether the vendor's name is genuinely familiar to the business already, whether the amount matches any known ongoing arrangement already in place, and whether the payment details differ at all from a vendor's previously confirmed account information, a mismatch well worth catching before any transfer is actually made.
Confirming an unexpected invoice directly with the supposed vendor themselves, through a separately verified contact rather than any details listed on the invoice itself, catches this particular pattern reliably before any payment is ever mistakenly sent out the door to the entirely wrong bank account.