3 min read
How to spot a fake invoice
A short guide for small businesses on checking an unexpected invoice before anyone pays it.
A fake invoice is built to be paid, not to be read. The logo looks familiar. The amount looks ordinary. The only new piece is the bank account, or a link that asks someone to sign in before the PDF will open.
Compare three things with the last bill you actually paid: the company name, the account number, and the address the message came from. A one-digit change in a routing number is a different destination. A display name is not an address.
Do not pay from a link in the message. Open the vendor the way you usually do, or call the number that was on file before this bill arrived. Reply-all on the same thread is not a confirmation. The person reading that thread may be the one who sent the bill.
If the bill is for a service you do not remember buying, that is a stop, not a puzzle to solve by clicking. Ask the owner. A real vendor can wait a day. A fake vendor cannot.
Keep the rule on a sticky note by the person who pays bills: no new account number without a phone call on a known number. That single habit stops the most expensive version of this scam.