Friday 25th April, 2014

Financial Fraud Action UK has warned of a rapid spread of fake invoices, with some criminal gangs and individuals specifically targeting industry sectors seen to be softer targets. These industries include the financial services, local government, the food and drink sector and travel amongst others.

Invoice fraud is carried out in a number of different ways - one of the most common being where the bank details of a genuine invoice are changed to an account in the fraudster's control. Often, the deception isn't uncovered until the genuine supplier chases the company for unpaid bills. A variation on this is for someone (quite often an employee of a genuine supplier), to contact the business in relation to a change of bank details (again to an account under their control). The company pays the "supplier" and the fraudster benefits from the funds.

DCI Dave Carter, Head of the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit said;