A New Feature to Prevent Invoice Fraud in Crypto

Sometimes innovation happens by solving a problem that you personally face. One problem was that we found it difficult to manage team approvals on the invoices we receive from our service providers. 

The problem with billing is this: the team members who incur the bill, are typically not involved when the company’s finance team reviews and pays the invoices it gets.

That makes it difficult for finance teams to verify if an invoice is legitimate or fraudulent, which ends up in legitimate bills not being paid on time.

Shark Tank angel investor, Barbara Corcoran, once lost over $388,000 from invoice fraud. The fraudster used a spoofed email address to deceive Barbara’s bookkeeper into wiring the money. The scam was discovered only when the bookkeeper copied Barbara’s assistant in the reply email.

CC Team Members On Invoices

That’s why we’ve introduced a new feature, allowing you to cc multiple people on invoices that you send to your clients. That way, finance teams can check with the team members on cc to ensure that a bill is legitimate.

‍

For instance, our PR agency bills us for their services in crypto. Each month, their finance team sends us their bill by scheduling a recurring crypto invoice in Request Finance. The invoices are automatically sent to our finance team’s account. 

Mina, our CFO, has access to that account. From there she reviews, approves and pays out all the bills we get, on top of salaries and bonuses, or reimbursing team expenses.

But here’s the catch: Mina has no way of knowing if the bill she has received is legitimate. The invoice does not tell her which member of our team has incurred the bill, making her unsure if she should pay the invoice.

‍

‍

Billing fraud is a critical vulnerability, especially for larger teams. In 2019, a Lithuanian man pleaded guilty to fleecing Google and Facebook out of more than $100 million in an elaborate scheme involving fake emails, and fake invoices.

In 2020, the e-commerce giant, Amazon fell victim to invoice fraud, paying over $19 million for items that were never purchased. Four brothers set up a fake wholesale business and invoiced Amazon for innocuous items like a 12-pack of disinfectant spray.

The FBI estimates American companies have been defrauded this way of about $2 billion dollars in 2020 alone. 

‍

‍

By allowing each invoice to have multiple team members on cc, your finance department can easily verify invoices from freelancers, contractors, and service providers. 

This should both protect you from billing fraud, while also ensuring your company’s bills are paid on time.

Block Fraudulent Issuers

If you've been receiving unsolicited invoices that appear to be fraudulent, you can block the issuer of those invoices.

Click the "Settings" tab on the left sidebar menu.

It should open up a page with a tab labelled "Blocked issuers". Add the emails of the senders you wish to block.

Doing so will prevent them from sending you fraudulent invoices in the future. It also help us identify potential scammers.

Help us make Web3 a safer place to do business!