- 11 / May 2019
FALSE INVOICE!
Be careful of false invoices and bogus contracts using your company’s information!
You must have recently heard and read the news about a lot of people and companies have been victimized by a new scam. If we need to give two examples;
A famous chef in Belgium deposits 9075 € to the bank account of an architectural firm. Then reminders come from the architectural company that says that they have not paid the bill. Unfortunately, at that moment the famous cook understands that now he is a false invoice victim.
Example 2: Scammers steal a company’s information (company number, company name, and address, bank number), and then sign a digital contract with a telecom company, from their website. Afterward, invoices that are required to be paid monthly are sent to the company they scammed, continuously. The owner of the company notices that the name of their company is misspelled in the invoices and they do not make any payments because they know that they have never signed a contract with the telecom company (because they buy services from another telecom company). The telecom company then get in contact with the executive officer. The executive officer also informs the company that he will sue. After consulting the company’s own lawyer, the lawyer notifies the enforcement officer and it turns out to be a scam.
But what kind of methods do scammers use for false invoices?
Scammers usually steal the real invoices from the red mailboxes used by the post office and replace them with fakes. Sometimes they report that they changed the old account number on the actual invoice and give their new account numbers. In digital invoices, scammers login to the vendor’s computer system and stop e-mails about invoices and change the account number on the actual invoice and write their own account numbers.
What kind of methods do scammers use for bogus contracts, another form of scam?
In such scams, scammers steal your company’s name, address, and company number and sign a digital contract on the vendor’s site on behalf of the company.
The vendor then invoices you constantly; in fact, another victim here is the vendor.
To what you should pay attention to the invoices you receive in order not to become a false invoice victim?
Compare the account number on the invoice with the account number on the vendor’s website. If the invoice says that the account number has changed, you should pay particular attention. In this case, please contact the seller before making the payment.
It is also useful to keep the vendor’s account number or actual invoices from the past. When you receive a new invoice, you can compare it with your current account number or the actual invoice.
You should also check that the email address is correct when you receive an invoice by email.
If you have a suspicion about invoices you receive, you should check the IP address of the e-mail sent to you with www.whois.com.
Are you a victim of a false invoice? What should you do?
If, after paying your invoice, reminders are still coming from the vendor, first of all, contact the vendor and compare their account numbers. If your account numbers are different, please contact your bank immediately and let them know. If your bank has not yet deposited the amount you pay to scammers’ account, they may stop the payment.
Also, report the scam to the police and help to catch them.
Unfortunately, the scam methods we tried to write above are only a few of them.
In our daily life, the use of the internet became indispensable. While this is the case, scammers use methods that one cannot think of. For example Fake internet banking, scams on Facebook, scam sites for cheap loans, fake brand products, apartment rental scams, fake surveys, etc…
Sincerely,
Advt. Nuray DEMIR
