Invoice Fraud By Email: How New Jersey Businesses Can Spot Fake Vendor Payment Requests

An invoice arrives from a supplier you know. The amount matches what you owe, and the payment is due this week. Then a follow-up email asks your bookkeeper to use a new bank account.

Would your team verify that change before sending the money?

Invoice fraud can hide inside an ordinary payment task. A familiar logo, an expected bill, and a polite reminder can make a false request look routine. If the payment goes to a criminal’s account, your supplier still hasn’t been paid.

Whether you’re paying for building materials, medical supplies, manufacturing parts, or professional services, the same risk applies. For New Jersey businesses, a safer process starts before anyone changes the vendor record.

Here’s how to spot warning signs, verify payment changes, and give staff somewhere to turn when an email raises doubts.

How A Familiar Supplier Invoice Can Become A Scam

Consider this hypothetical example. A Monmouth County construction company receives an expected $18,400 invoice for materials delivered to a job site. The amount matches the order.

Later that day, another email arrives. It references the same invoice and says the supplier has changed banks. The sender asks for an ACH payment to the new account before the afternoon cutoff to avoid a delivery hold.

The company needs another shipment. The bookkeeper wants to keep the project on schedule. The request seems to fit the email thread. But the bank change is fraudulent.

The correct amount builds trust. The delivery deadline adds pressure. But one detail needs a separate check: who controls the new account.

The check belongs before the vendor record changes and before payment is released. An invoice can match your order while the new bank details are false.

What Is Invoice Fraud By Email?

Invoice fraud by email uses a false bill or altered payment request to get your business to send money to a criminal. You might receive an invoice for something you never ordered, or a legitimate supplier’s invoice paired with fraudulent bank details.

That second version is often called payment redirection fraud.

Criminals can impersonate a vendor through a misleading sender name, email spoofing, or a lookalike domain with a small spelling change. They may also take over a supplier’s email account and send requests from an address you trust.

These schemes fall within the broader problem of business email compromise, or BEC. A message can include correct billing details. That doesn’t prove the sender has the right to change where you pay.

The New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) describes this pattern in its advisory on BEC scams: criminals impersonate trusted vendors and ask businesses to redirect invoice payments to a new bank account.

Your team needs to confirm the payment change through a trusted, separate channel.

Warning Signs Of A Fake Invoice Email

Don’t base invoice fraud detection on spelling errors alone. Check what the email asks your team to change.

Watch for:

• Changed bank details: Check any new account, routing number, or payment method with the vendor through a trusted channel.
• Pressure to skip checks: The sender insists on same day payment, threatens a service hold, or asks you to bypass normal approval.
• Unusual contact instructions: You’re told not to call your usual contact or to use a new number supplied in the message.
• Sender or reply-to differences: The address contains a small spelling change, an extra word, or a different domain.
• Invoice mismatches: The order number, amount, goods received, or past payments don’t match your records.
• Unexpected login requests: A link asks you to sign in to view an invoice you normally receive another way.

A correct email address doesn’t settle the question if the account has been compromised. Likewise, a payment request doesn’t need a harmful attachment to cause a loss. The instructions themselves may be the scam.

Five Checks Before You Change Vendor Details Or Pay

Independently verify every bank detail change, even with suppliers you’ve paid for years. Use these checks before updating vendor records or releasing the affected payment.

1. Pause The Payment And Record Change

Hold the affected payment and leave the existing vendor details in place while you check. Notify the payment approver.

A deadline shouldn’t remove this step. If you can’t reach your trusted vendor contact, keep the change on hold. Tell your finance lead.

2. Match The Invoice Against Existing Records

Check the invoice against your order, contract, and delivery record. For services, ask the staff member who approved the purchase to confirm what you received. Check the invoice number and payment history for duplicates or unexplained changes.

Then compare the requested payment details with your approved vendor record.

Invoice matching establishes whether you owe the money. Independent verification confirms where it should go. You need both.

3. Call A Trusted Vendor Contact Independently

Use a phone number from your established vendor records, checked before the request arrived. Don’t use the number in the suspicious email, its attachment, or an updated signature.

This is callback verification. Call the vendor yourself. Ask the person who handles their billing to confirm the change and bank details through your agreed process.

The FBI’s payment verification guidance recommends checking changes to account numbers or payment procedures directly with the requester. Replying to the same email thread can’t provide an independent check when a criminal controls the conversation.

4. Document The Check And Obtain Approval

Record who confirmed the change, when you called, and which established number you used. Save the call notes and approval with your payment records. Limit who can edit these records.

Require a second authorized person to review bank changes and affected payments. For a small team, an owner or controller can provide that review. The approver should check the verification record rather than rely on an emailed assurance that the request is safe.

5. Update The Record, Then Release Payment

Only after the checks and approval should the staff member with that role change the payment details. Confirm that the payment uses those approved details before releasing it.

Keep a record of who checked and approved the change for future reference.

What If You’ve Already Sent The Money?

Contact your financial institution immediately and ask about stopping or recalling the transfer. Alert your finance lead and IT or security contact.

Preserve the messages and payment records, and report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov. Act promptly; recovery isn’t guaranteed.

How Email Protection Supports Invoice Fraud Prevention

Payment checks and email security address different parts of the risk.

Email filtering and impersonation protection can flag deceptive messages before staff act. Multifactor authentication, or MFA, makes it harder for criminals to take over mailboxes with stolen passwords. Monitoring and response give your IT team a way to investigate suspicious activity.

These controls reduce risk, but a message that reaches your inbox still needs proper checks. They can’t establish that your supplier authorized a bank change.

Staff also need a known reporting route. Name the IT contact who can check a suspect message and explain what staff should do while it’s reviewed. Your finance team or designated approver remains responsible for verifying the vendor’s instructions and authorizing payment.

If employees can’t explain who helps with a suspicious email, or leaders don’t know whether mailbox protections are maintained, those are gaps to raise with your IT provider.

Stop Approving Bank Changes From Email Alone And Start Verifying Every Change

Make a separate check part of every vendor bank change. Staff shouldn’t have to decide whether an email looks suspicious enough to justify a call.

Use this sequence: pause, compare, independently confirm, document, and approve.

Apply it when the owner is away, a backup bookkeeper handles payments, or a supplier says the change is urgent. A consistent rule gives everyone permission to stop and check.

Return to our hypothetical Monmouth County construction company. The bookkeeper calls the supplier using the number already on file. The supplier confirms that its bank details haven’t changed. The company puts the false update on hold and reports the email. It pays only after checking the approved bank details.

The bookkeeper didn’t need to prove how the email was forged. The phone call exposed the false request.

Back Up Payment Checks With Email Protection

Alongside your payment verification procedures, Monmouth Cyber puts phishing defense software in place to detect fake vendor messages, screen harmful links and attachments, and quarantine suspicious emails for review.

Our team also trains your employees through regular phishing simulations: safe practice emails that teach staff to spot convincing requests and report them. Reviewing the results identifies where more guidance is needed.

These protections give your New Jersey business another layer of defense while reinforcing the independent checks required before changing bank details or sending money.

Give Your New Jersey Team Support Before The Next Payment Request

You want suppliers paid on time and staff to know where to turn when a convincing request raises doubts. Your bookkeeper can follow the payment checks while an IT partner addresses the email and account risks behind them.

Monmouth Cyber helps New Jersey businesses implement and maintain email and account protections as part of ongoing IT and cybersecurity support. Its local team helps staff check suspicious messages, explains security gaps, implements agreed improvements, and reviews needs over time.

If you’re ready to discuss your current IT support, email protections, and security concerns, Book A Free Consultation.

Learn how email security helps protect against vendor impersonation.