Cases of beneficiary fraud are increasing around the world and can expose companies to significant financial loss.

Beneficiary fraud generally occurs when a fraudster impersonates a supplier to entice their customer to pay them into a new bank account that does not belong to the impersonated supplier. The fraudster contacts the customer by phone, email, or mail to indicate a change of bank details. The customer modifies the bank details of their beneficiary or creates a new beneficiary and sends the payment.

Once the payment has been sent, recalling it and returning the funds may be difficult or even impossible, depending in particular on the fraudster's bank and the time elapsed between the payment and the discovery of the fraud.

It is necessary to verify the identity of the interlocutor and the authenticity of the bank details before adding a beneficiary or modifying the bank details of an existing beneficiary.

A simple verification of his phone number or email address is not sufficient, because they may have been spoofed. Double checking using a second means of communication is required. A double check consists, for example, in contacting the supplier by phone if they have contacted you by email or in contacting them by email if they have contacter you by phone.

If in doubt, do not hesitate to contact your account manager.