What are the red flags of this scam?

An email arrives from a known supplier, solicitor, or internal manager asking you to update their bank account details — even if the sender address looks correct • An invoice arrives with updated bank account details attached to what looks like a regular supplier email thread • The email says the change is urgent, temporary, or explains the account change with a plausible story (new bank, system migration, audit) • Your solicitor or conveyancer emails updated bank details for settlement — especially if the email thread is slightly off (different font, new email address, or extra urgency) • Your 'CEO' or 'CFO' emails staff asking for an urgent, confidential bank transfer that bypasses normal approval processes • An 'HR update' email asks you to change your salary payment to a new bank account before the next pay cycle • You call the phone number listed on the supplier's website to verify and they confirm the new bank details — scammers now compromise supplier websites to change the listed contact number before sending fake invoices, defeating the 'check the website' verification step

What should I do if this happened to me?

Always call back a known, trusted phone number to verbally confirm any request to update bank details — never call a number from the suspicious email • Do not rely on the phone number on the supplier's website either — scammers can and do hack supplier websites to change the listed contact number before sending fake invoices. Use a mobile number you already have saved from previous correspondence, or visit their physical office • Verify bank detail change requests in person or via a phone number you independently know — do not rely on contact details in the email or on the invoice • For property settlements, call your solicitor on a number you have independently verified before transferring any settlement funds — intercept fraud in conveyancing is rising • Add a two-person rule for any payment above a set threshold: a second person must verify before the transfer is made • Check email domains carefully — scammers use lookalike domains (e.g. supplier.com.au vs suppIier.com.au with a capital I) • Enable multi-factor authentication on all business email accounts to prevent credential theft as the initial foothold • Report to Scamwatch at https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam or ReportCyber at https://www.cyber.gov.au/report.

HIGH phishing Last reported: 1 Oct 2026 Share

A scammer impersonating a supplier, solicitor, or manager redirects your invoice payment to their account

Q: Is this a scam?

Yes. This is a documented scam pattern. A scammer impersonates a business email and sends fraudulent invoices or bank-detail update requests, redirecting payments to their account. Australian businesses lost $166.8M to this in 2025 — the top scam category for small businesses.

A scammer impersonates a business email and sends fraudulent invoices or bank-detail update requests, redirecting payments to their account. Australian businesses lost $166.8M to this in 2025 — the top scam category for small businesses.

Also known as: payment redirection scam, business email compromise Australia, BEC scam, invoice fraud Australia, fake bank detail update, payroll diversion fraud, conveyancing payment scam

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

1 Call your bank or card's fraud line right now. Use the number on the back of your card — not any number from the message or caller. Ask them to stop or reverse the payment and freeze the account.
2 If you paid by gift card, wire, or an app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App): contact that company immediately and report it as fraud. Acting fast sometimes recovers the money.
3 Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The sooner, the better.

What to do right now

1 Always call back a known, trusted phone number to verbally confirm any request to update bank details — never call a number from the suspicious email
2 Do not rely on the phone number on the supplier's website either — scammers can and do hack supplier websites to change the listed contact number before sending fake invoices. Use a mobile number you already have saved from previous correspondence, or visit their physical office
3 Verify bank detail change requests in person or via a phone number you independently know — do not rely on contact details in the email or on the invoice
4 For property settlements, call your solicitor on a number you have independently verified before transferring any settlement funds — intercept fraud in conveyancing is rising
5 Add a two-person rule for any payment above a set threshold: a second person must verify before the transfer is made
6 Check email domains carefully — scammers use lookalike domains (e.g. supplier.com.au vs suppIier.com.au with a capital I)
7 Enable multi-factor authentication on all business email accounts to prevent credential theft as the initial foothold
8 Report to Scamwatch at https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam or ReportCyber at https://www.cyber.gov.au/report.

Red flags

⚠ An email arrives from a known supplier, solicitor, or internal manager asking you to update their bank account details — even if the sender address looks correct
⚠ An invoice arrives with updated bank account details attached to what looks like a regular supplier email thread
⚠ The email says the change is urgent, temporary, or explains the account change with a plausible story (new bank, system migration, audit)
⚠ Your solicitor or conveyancer emails updated bank details for settlement — especially if the email thread is slightly off (different font, new email address, or extra urgency)
⚠ Your 'CEO' or 'CFO' emails staff asking for an urgent, confidential bank transfer that bypasses normal approval processes
⚠ An 'HR update' email asks you to change your salary payment to a new bank account before the next pay cycle
⚠ You call the phone number listed on the supplier's website to verify and they confirm the new bank details — scammers now compromise supplier websites to change the listed contact number before sending fake invoices, defeating the 'check the website' verification step

Known variants

Conveyancing interception: scammer monitors a property buyer's email communication with their solicitor or conveyancer and substitutes fraudulent bank details at settlement. Victims transfer purchase price — often hundreds of thousands of dollars — to the scammer's account.

Last seen: 9/22/2026
Payroll diversion: scammer impersonates an employee in an HR email requesting that their salary bank account be updated before the next pay cycle. Discovered only when the real employee queries missing pay.

Last seen: 9/22/2026
Website phone-number poisoning: scammers hack a supplier's website to swap the listed contact number for their own before sending a fake invoice. When the victim calls the website number to verify, they reach the scammer, who confirms the fraudulent bank details. This defeats the standard 'call a number from their website' verification defence.

Last seen: 10/1/2026
Bank impersonation 'credit review' email: a fake email posing as the business's bank requests details of outstanding invoices for an 'internal audit'. The email may include a forwarded-message appearance from a named banker. Purpose: intelligence-gathering on payment cycles to enable a targeted follow-up BEC invoice scam.

Last seen: 10/1/2026

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

What to do right now

Red flags

Known variants

Sources