One of the most damaging frauds for any business is payment redirection, where a criminal poses as a supplier or lender and persuades you to send money to the wrong account. Because they are sometimes able to copy real branding and email styles, these messages can look convincing.
Warning signs
- An unexpected message saying our payment or bank details have changed.
- Pressure to pay quickly or to keep the change confidential.
- An invoice or reference that does not match what you see in your portal.
- An email address that is slightly different from our genuine ones.
How to protect your company
- Treat any change to payment details as suspicious until you have confirmed it independently.
- Check the amount and reference against the statement in your portal.
- Call us back on a number you already trust, not one supplied in the message.
- Make sure more than one person in your finance team is aware of how we genuinely collect repayments.
If you have already paid
Contact your bank straight away, as a fast report gives the best chance of recovering funds. Then tell us through a verified channel so we can confirm what is genuine and review your account. Reporting quickly protects both your business and others.
See also: Protecting your company from CEO and director impersonation fraud, How do I pay by bank transfer?, Recognising fake phone calls claiming to be from Credicorp.