The most common way importers lose money in this industry is not a bad factory. It is an email telling them the bank details have changed.
Our rules, so you can hold us to them
- We will never notify a change of bank details by email alone. If you receive one that appears to come from us, treat it as fraudulent until you have confirmed it by voice on a number you already had — not a number in that email.
- Our banking details do not change mid-project. If they ever do, you will be told by phone first, and the written confirmation will follow.
- We do not ask for payment to a personal account, or to an account in a name that does not match the entity on your invoice. Neither should any supplier.
- We do not create payment urgency. Nobody at this company will tell you a container is about to be lost unless you transfer within the hour.
How the fraud actually works
An attacker gets into one mailbox — often the factory's, not yours and not ours — and watches a real conversation until an invoice is due. Then they send a message that reads exactly like the ones before it, from an address one character different, attaching the same invoice with different bank details. Nothing looks wrong because almost nothing is wrong.
This is why the countermeasure is a voice call on a previously known number, and not "check the email carefully". Careful reading does not defeat it.
What to do every time before a transfer
- Compare the account details against the ones you used last time. Any difference stops the payment.
- Call to confirm, on a number you already held. Not one from the email, the invoice or the signature.
- Check the account name matches the invoicing entity. A mismatch is not an administrative quirk.
- Send a small test transfer on a first payment to a new party, and confirm receipt before sending the balance.
- Pay in stages tied to milestones — deposit, pre-shipment, balance after inspection — rather than in one transfer up front.
If you think it has happened
Contact your bank immediately and ask for a recall — the first hours matter more than anything else. Then tell us, so we can check whether the compromise is at the supplier's end and warn other clients working with that factory.
