So, Your Supplier Has Changed Their Bank Details

Businesses occassionally change their bank details, and they need to inform their clients to update those details in their payment system.

It used to be a simple matter to post a letter, email, or highlight the change on invoices, but with the proliferation of invoice scams where hackers infiltrate email systems and modify real invoices with fake bank details, communications about new bank details simply cannot be trusted. (See here.)

Businesses must be more proactive to protect themselves from sending money to fake bank accounts.

An approach to minimise your risk is:

• When a notification arrives from a supplier to change bank details, put it to one side for 24 hours. Take no action. If the supplier has suffered some sort of hack, this should become apparent within that time.

• After 24 hours, ring the supplier using the telephone number you have recorded in your system, not the number on the invoice. Speak to a real person to verify the account details.

• Make a log that you checked the number and with whom.