Counter Fraud Team Alert - Mandate Fraud

The school had received an email from a similar email address of the supplier which had been intercepted. The invoice when opened was almost identical to a genuine invoice however, the bank account details had been changed and the payment terms had been removed. This resulted in the payment being made to the fraudster.

Advice to Schools

When receiving invoices over email please remember the following;

• Check the email address matches that of the supplier (domain).
• Click on the senders’ email address, does the pop up match the email address that has sent the email? If it is different this could be an indication that it has been spoofed.
• If the above checks have led to suspicion do not open the invoice as it could have malware (virus) inserted.
• If the checks have not led to suspicions open the invoice, check the payee details against payee details held. If there has been changes to the payee bank account details, please contact the supplier by phone.

Contact Details

Invicta Audit and Counter Fraud
Telephone: 03000 41 78 88
Email: enquiries@auditandfraud.org