// Case Studies
B2B supply fraud: the advance-payment trap in business
A company orders high-value hardware from a seemingly reputable supplier. Several advance payments flow — against real delivery notes with real serial numbers. Nothing is ever delivered. In this real case from our region we reconstructed the perpetrator's approach purely from openly accessible traces. We deliberately name no one; the focus is the method.
Updated: 2026-07-11
How the case was handled
- 1Verify the supplier independently: commercial register, registered office (mass addresses are a red flag), actual directors instead of stand-in contacts.
- 2Check the age of the ordering domains: in the case they were registered only days before the first payment — an indicator of planning.
- 3Question the payment route: a foreign account at a pure payment provider rarely fits an established supplier.
- 4Do not treat delivery notes and tracking as proof: real tracking movements with a deliberately wrong address create the appearance of a delivery without one.
- 5Before paying, ask for a real reference or partial delivery; if suspicious, preserve evidence and file a report.
What to avoid
- Do not pay in advance to unknown suppliers without independent verification.
- Do not rely on delivery notes, serial numbers or tracking links alone — they can be forged.
- Do not accept a foreign payment account that does not match the registered office without questioning it.
- Do not let time pressure or conspicuously low prices rush you into quick payments.
How SKOPION helps
SKOPION reconstructs such cases from externally accessible sources — commercial register, domain history, payment infrastructure — attributes perpetrator and pattern, and prepares a solid evidence pack for the report and the bank. Passive, documented and without touching your systems.
Confidential enquiryFAQ
- How do I spot a dubious supplier?
- By mass addresses in the register, stand-in contacts, very young ordering domains and payment accounts that do not match the registered office.
- Are real delivery notes and serial numbers proof?
- No. They can be copied; in the case there were real papers and tracking, but never a delivery.
- We already paid — what now?
- Contact the bank immediately (check recall), preserve all records and file a report. Structured evidence handling improves the chances.