The warning signs


Typically, you will receive a letter from a company supplying a monthly magazine to you. It gives details of a new bank account and asks you to change your payment instructions accordingly. You amend the direct debit bank mandate as instructed. The following month your magazine does not arrive and when you contact the publisher you are told that because your payment was cancelled you no longer have a subscription for the magazine.


Another common sign is to find that your online bank account has been hacked into and your monthly payment details have been altered so that the money is transferred to the fraudster’s account.


A further variant on this scam is that someone contacts you pretending to be from a supplier or an organisation with whom you have a standing order or direct debit and asks you to change it to reflect a change in their banking. You do this but find that your products or


membership have been cancelled as they did not receive their payment.


Protecting yourself and your organisation from false mandates and invoices


By following some simple preventative steps, you can minimise the potential for invoice and mandate fraud.


• Never leave bills or documents lying around.


• If you are concerned about the source of a call, ask the caller to give you a main switchboard number for you to be routed back to them. Alternatively, hang up and call them back using the contact details you have on file.


• Check your bank statements carefully and report anything suspicious to your financial institution.


• Always confirm change of bank details requests with the company making the change.


• Consider setting up Single Points of Contact with companies with whom you make regular payments.


• Check every invoice you receive for irregularities and follow every invoice payment with a confirmation email.


• For a payment over a certain threshold, make arrangements with the company concerned to verify it.


What to do if you suspect fraud


If you see any unusual activity on your account or suspect mandate fraud has occurred, notify your bank immediately and inform Action Fraud.


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