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A supplier says their bank details changed. Check before you pay.

One of the most common frauds against small businesses is an ordinary-looking email from a supplier with a new bank account. Here is how it works, the signs, a routine that stops it, and what to do if the money has already gone.

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Updated 16 October 2026

How it happens.

  1. An email from a supplier

    From their real address, because their mailbox was broken into, or from one that looks like it with one letter changed. Often in the middle of a real conversation about a real invoice.

  2. A new bank account

    "We have changed banks, please use the account below from now on." Sometimes the invoice itself is the real one, with only the bank details changed.

  3. A reason to hurry

    The old account is closing, the payment is overdue, the manager is travelling and cannot take calls. Anything that keeps you from checking.

  4. The money moves on

    You pay what you really owe, into an account the fraudster controls, and the money is moved on quickly. The real supplier is still waiting for it.

The warning signs.

This is called mandate fraud, payment diversion fraud or invoice fraud. It works because nothing about the email looks wrong: the logo, the signature and the amount are right, and the invoice is one you expected. Nothing has changed except where the money goes.

So treat a change of bank details as the warning sign in itself, however ordinary the email around it looks.

Stop and check when

  • A supplier's bank account changes by email
  • You are asked to hurry, or not to call
  • The sender's address is one letter off
  • Replies go to a different address
  • The new account is in another country or name

The routine that stops it.

  1. Call back on a number you already had. From your records, a past invoice or the contract, never from the email that asks for the change. Ask someone you know there to confirm the new account.
  2. Two people for any change. Only named people in your business may change a supplier's bank details, and a second person approves it before it is saved.
  3. Use your bank's name check. In the euro area, since 9 October 2025 your bank checks the name of the person you pay against the account before every transfer and tells you if it does not match. A "no match" or a "close match" is a reason to stop and call.
  4. Take your time. A real supplier will wait an hour while you call them. Hurry is the fraudster's tool.
  5. Keep payment details private. Invoices and bank details only where the people who need them can see them, and shredded before they are thrown away.

If you have already paid.

  1. Call your bank at once. The sooner they know, the better the chance of stopping the money.
  2. Report it to the police. In the UK through Action Fraud; in Germany at any police station or your state police's online station.
  3. Tell the real supplier. Their mailbox may have been broken into, and their other customers may be next.
  4. Keep everything. The emails with their full headers, the invoice and the payment record.

Where Neaion helps

  • A supplier's new bank account is flagged before you pay
  • It stays marked in what you owe until you confirm it
  • An invoice from a sender that cannot be confirmed is held, not filed
  • The same invoice twice is counted once

A second pair of eyes on every invoice.

Your Neaion office reads the supplier invoices that reach your mailbox, your photos and your e-invoices, and remembers the bank account each supplier used. When an invoice asks you to pay somewhere new, you are told at once, before you pay, and the invoice stays marked until you have checked and confirmed it. Neaion never pays anything and never touches your money. See how your office keeps receipts and invoices.

Questions

Asked before you start.

What is mandate fraud?

A fraudster poses as one of your suppliers and asks you to pay into a new bank account. It is also called payment diversion fraud or invoice fraud.

Is an email from the supplier's real address safe?

Not on its own. The supplier's mailbox may have been broken into, so the message really comes from it. Check any change of bank details by phone, on a number you already had.

Does my bank check the name on the account?

In the euro area, yes: since 9 October 2025 banks check the payee's name against the account before a transfer and tell you if it does not match. Treat a warning as a reason to stop and call your supplier.

What if I already paid?

Call your bank straight away, then report it to the police, and tell the real supplier, whose mailbox may have been broken into.

Will Neaion pay my suppliers?

No. It never pays anything. It reads supplier invoices, shows what you owe and when, and flags a new bank account before you pay.

Sources

The rules and dates on this page come from these sources, read on the day shown. This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice: rules change and your case may differ, so ask your adviser before you rely on it. If something here is out of date, write to us at hello@neaion.com and we will correct it.

  1. National Business Crime Centre (UK police): mandate fraud, checked 16 October 2026
  2. European Central Bank: the Instant Payments Regulation and verification of payee, checked 16 October 2026

Read next

Keep the booksYour receipts and invoices, read and kept in order.Snap a receipt or let invoices arrive by mail: your office reads every figure, checks the sums, flags what does not add up and keeps your books ready. GuideE-invoicing in Germany: what changes for a small business, and when.Since 2025 every German business must accept e-invoices; sending them is required from 2027 or 2028. The dates, the formats, the exceptions, a checklist. SafetySafe by design, and under your control.What your office may never do, what always waits for you, and how your customers' data is kept. Hosted in the EU, never used to train AI.

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