Wire Fraud and Invoice Scams: Verify Before You Pay

Imagine this: you get an email from a vendor you’ve worked with for years. They say their bank account has changed and ask you to send the next payment to new wiring instructions. The email looks legitimate — right logo, correct contact name, even references your actual invoice number.

So you update the payment info and wire the money. Except it wasn’t really your vendor. A criminal intercepted your emails, studied your relationships, and sent that message at exactly the right moment. Your money is gone — and it’s probably not coming back.

This is called Business Email Compromise, and it’s one of the most expensive cyber crimes today. The FBI reports billions lost every year.

How to protect yourself

Never trust payment change requests that come by email alone. Always verify by phone — and use a number you already have on file, not one from the suspicious email. If a vendor, client, or even your CEO emails asking you to wire money or buy gift cards urgently, pick up the phone and confirm it’s real.

Real estate transactions are especially targeted. If you’re closing on a property, verify wiring instructions directly with your title company by calling them.

One phone call can save you thousands — or even your entire business.

Common questions

We already sent the wire. Is the money gone?

Act immediately. Call your bank the moment you suspect fraud and ask them to attempt a recall on the wire. Then file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. Recovery is never guaranteed, but the odds drop fast with every hour that passes, so speed matters more than certainty.

How did the criminal know so much about our vendor relationship?

Usually because someone’s mailbox was quietly compromised, on your side or the vendor’s. Attackers sit and read email for weeks, learning who pays whom, what invoices look like, and when payments go out. Then they strike with a message that fits perfectly. That’s also why turning on multi-factor authentication for email is one of the best defenses against this entire category of fraud.

What’s a simple policy that stops this?

Make it a firm rule: any change to payment details gets verified by phone at a known number before a dollar moves, no matter how legitimate the email looks or how senior the sender appears to be. Put it in writing, train everyone who touches payments, and make sure no single person can be pressured into skipping the step.

Protect your business from fraud

If you’d like Braintek to train your team on recognizing these scams, book a free discovery call, explore our cybersecurity services, or call us in Houston at 281-367-8253.