Ivalua Reports Businesses Fall Victim to Invoice Scams

Research from Ivalua has shown vulnerability in UK businesses that have not digitised their invoicing process – with suppliers getting paid later than ever.

New research from Ivalua, a global leader in spend management, has found that almost a third (31%) of UK businesses have been victims of invoice fraud in the past 12 months.

Of these businesses, just 39% managed to stop fraudulent transactions before the money was paid out.

The survey was conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of Ivalua from 29 April to 10 May. It is based on a survey of 300 supply chain and procurement decision-makers in the UK.

Invoice scams

This exposes the vulnerability of UK businesses that have not digitised the invoicing side of their operations. So far, close to two-thirds (64%) of UK businesses say they have not automated the processes of matching incoming invoices against orders, contracts, and vendor payment information. More than half (52%) say that without automated invoice matching, organisations are ‘sitting ducks’ when it comes to fraud.

“Invoicing is an area ripe for fraudsters and cybercriminals. They will typically use low-value invoices that look genuine to direct payments into bogus bank accounts,” says Stephen Carter, Director of Payments Strategy, Ivalua. 

“Many of these fake invoices are waved through by employees because they look convincing, and the amounts are often below payment thresholds or lower than the expected value. Organisations also face risks from fraudsters working within the business. This insider threat involves senior employees flipping supplier bank details within payment runs to pocket the cash themselves—this activity is hard to track and ripe for exploitation.

“These scams are not the most technologically sophisticated threats, but they’re still happening, so it’s clear better safeguards are needed.

"By digitising processes, organisations can automate invoice matching against orders, contacts, and block vendor information changes—such as payments or bank details. This allows organisations to segregate duties, remove thresholds, and only pay approved suppliers, eliminating the opportunity for fraud.”

Bridging the gap in communication

A big challenge for UK businesses in closing the invoice fraud gaps is communication, with 39% of procurement leaders saying there is a huge gap in dialogue between finance and procurement teams.

This lack is also contributing to delays in supplier payments. Delayed payments put suppliers at risk of collapse, with The Federation of Small Businesses claiming 50,000 UK business closures could be avoided each year if payments are made on time. But despite this, our findings show that:

A third (32%) of UK businesses say that they find it hard to tell if suppliers have been paid, while a further 63% agree that late payments put the organisation at risk of losing key suppliers.

“By paying suppliers on time, organisations can build the trust needed to secure materials and workers, to become the customer of choice,” adds Stephen. 

“This is best practice because without total visibility of both cash and suppliers across the whole spend cycle, payments will continue to be late and the risk of fraud will increase, leaving businesses to play catch-up. Suppliers are being put out of business, causing supply chains to grind to a halt. UK businesses need to become more strategic about payments to reduce risk and drive long-term savings.”

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