XBert Type: Standard
​Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
​Country Restriction: All supported countries
​Risk Type: Fraud Risk
​Business Function: Purchases

This XBert looks for a brand-new supplier that starts receiving payments very quickly after it was added, in a pattern that can point to a fabricated or "ghost" supplier. It matters because made-up suppliers are a common way money is paid out fraudulently, and the individual payments often look normal on their own.

XBert reviews recently created supplier contacts and looks at how each new supplier behaves in its first weeks. It compares the date the supplier was created against when money first started flowing to it, how many payments were made, the total value of those payments, how many were round-dollar amounts, and how well the supplier's tax or business registration details line up with its name.

XBert raises this XBert when a new supplier shows several warning signs together, rather than any one sign on its own. A supplier is flagged when, soon after being created, it begins receiving a cluster of payments that reaches a meaningful count and total value, and its business registration looks weak (no registered tax number, a tax number that does not match the supplier's name, or a registration dated right before the spending began). The fastest cases, where money flows within days of the supplier being set up, score highest. A high share of suspiciously round amounts adds further weight.

XBert is deliberately careful to avoid false alarms. It ignores customer contacts, and it does not flag a fast-spending new supplier when its registration details properly match its name, because a genuine new trade supplier for a new product line will usually check out. Well-known large payees (for example the tax office, major banks, and large global services such as Amazon, Google or FedEx) are skipped. Overseas suppliers are recognised as legitimately having no local tax registration, so they are not penalised for that or for amounts that look round only because of currency conversion. Finally, XBert holds off on suppliers added around the time your ledger was first connected, because creation dates during that initial sync are not reliable.

A new supplier called "Apex Project Services" is added to the ledger. Within four days it receives three payments totalling $14,000, all in round amounts of $4,000 to $6,000. The supplier has no registered tax number and no name match against any business registry. Each payment passed routine checks, but together the speed, the round amounts and the missing registration are a classic ghost-supplier pattern. The bookkeeper, Priya, investigates and finds the supplier was never approved and the bank details belong to an unknown account. She stops further payments, reports it, and the firm recovers the funds before more goes out the door.

This XBert runs on Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.

This XBert is available across all supported countries. Where a supplier is based overseas and would not be expected to hold a local business or tax registration, XBert adjusts its checks accordingly so legitimate foreign suppliers are not unfairly flagged.

Business area: Purchases (Accounts Payable)