A fake invoice, ghost note or ghost invoice is an invoice for goods or services that have never been delivered, sent by scammers. These scammers often send thousands at the same time, hoping companies will not check them and will simply pay. If you pay, the scammer is in luck; if you do not, you will never hear anything about it again. What tricks do they use, and what can you do about them?
Difference with acquisition fraud and phishing
Acquisition fraud is often associated with ghost invoices, but in that form of fraud the scammer does deliver something, even if it is worthless. With a ghost invoice there is only an invoice — no goods or services are delivered at all.
Ghost invoices are also different from phishing. With phishing, emails from banks are imitated in the hope that the reader hands over their details, which the scammers then use to withdraw money or buy products.
What tricks are used?
Ghost invoices are usually for amounts under €250. Phishing, acquisition fraud and ghost invoices have one thing in common: they rely on a trick. In this case, it is that amounts of that size are often paid quickly and without checking, especially at large companies.
The invoices are often imitated so that they appear to come from a large bank or a body such as the Chamber of Commerce, using the logo and other details that make them look real. If you study the invoice properly, you can see that it is fake.
If you pay a ghost invoice, there is a good chance the same invoice will be sent again — and you can be sure that you will not get the money back.
What can I do about it?
The simplest thing you can do is check invoices before you pay them, especially when they come from suppliers you do not know. If you do know the supplier but the amount is unfamiliar, check the invoice with your colleagues. Always read the small print to work out whether it is a real invoice. You can also report a suspicious invoice to your national fraud reporting body, such as the Fraud Help Desk.
Working with assignment numbers is another solution. It means your employees have to request an order number when purchasing, and the supplier has to put that number on their invoice — which makes an invoice easy for the responsible employee to verify. Bear in mind that a scammer can guess an order number if you use obvious, sequential ones.
In closing
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