A small business in Victoria has been conned out of – and then repaid – almost $900,000 after they were targeted in a cunning false billing scam.
The construction company is a Bendigo Bank customer and engaged the services of a local supplier for a routine job last month.
Once the work was completed, the supplier emailed the construction company with a draft invoice to confirm the details were correct before formally requesting payment.
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The details were confirmed and the official invoice was sent back to the construction company for payment.
But between the draft invoice being sent and the construction company confirming the details, the correspondence crossed the path of an online scammer.
An invoice reflecting the agreed amount, $938,600, was received by the construction company, but the account details were different and there was a message on the invoice to explain the change:
“Please ensure payment is made into the above bank details as funds paid into the old account will now bounce which could cause delays,” it read.
The invoice came from the business’ legitimate email account and was signed by the supplier’s director.
Apart from the change to the account details, everything looked legitimate, so the customer paid the invoice, thinking they were paying the vendor.
But that money was on its way to a criminal who had compromised the supplier’s email account and the small business had no idea until the supplier later contacted them wondering where the payment was.
The small business owner contacted Bendigo Bank and thankfully the organisation was able to recover $897,083 of what was stolen.
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False billing scams were the second most common scam reported to ScamWatch, with Australians losing $16.2 million to payment redirection scams last year.
“This example highlights the importance of acting quickly when something doesn’t look or feel right,” Bendigo Bank’s Head of Customer Protection, Jason Gordon, said.
“That said, prevention is better than the cure, so we urge customers to Stop, Think and Protect.”
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