XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online
Country Restriction: Australia only
Risk Type: Fraud Risk
Business Function: Purchases
Overview
This XBert helps protect you from payment-redirection scams (also known as business email compromise). It looks for a supplier bill that shows bank account details on the invoice itself when that supplier has no saved bank account in your accounting ledger. This is a classic sign that someone may be trying to direct your payment to the wrong account, so it is worth checking before you pay.
What it does
XBert reads the bank account details printed on a supplier's invoice and compares them with the bank account saved against that supplier in your accounting software. When the invoice shows bank details but the supplier has no saved bank account on file, there is nothing to check the printed details against. XBert raises this so you can confirm the account is genuine before the payment goes out.
How it works
XBert raises this when all of the following are true for a supplier bill:
The bill carries a bank account that was read from the attached invoice.
The supplier has no bank account saved in your ledger to compare it against.
The bill is authorised or paid, and is for a material amount (by default, $1,000 or more).
The amount is in Australian dollars.
XBert deliberately ignores cases that are not a payment-redirection risk. It skips repeating (templated) bills, and it skips documents that are not a payee invoice — such as bank statements, receipts, remittance advices, payslips and payment summaries — where a printed bank account is not a supplier you would pay. It also ignores account numbers that look like scanning errors, such as those with too few digits or all zeros. XBert raises just one alert per supplier, choosing the largest bill, and treats it as higher risk when the supplier was only recently added — a brand-new payee being paid a large amount on its first invoice is the worst case.
Example/Use Case
Priya, a bookkeeper, receives an invoice from "Coastline Fitouts" for $48,500 for an office refurbishment. The supplier was added to the ledger only last week and has no saved bank account. The invoice lists a BSB and account number for payment. XBert flags it. Priya phones Coastline Fitouts using the number from their official website — not the one on the invoice — and discovers the real account details are different. The invoice had been intercepted and altered. Because she checked first, the $48,500 went to the right account instead of a scammer's.
Accounting software
This XBert runs for organisations connected through Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
Which countries it supports
This XBert is available for Australian organisations only.
Processes
Business area: Purchases (Accounts Payable). To resolve this XBert:
Do not pay the bill until the bank details are confirmed.
Contact the supplier directly using a phone number you already trust — from their website or a previous statement — not a number printed on the invoice.
Confirm the BSB and account number verbally with the supplier before making any payment.
Once you have verified the details are genuine, save the correct bank account against the supplier in your accounting software so future payments can be checked automatically.
If the details do not match, treat the invoice as suspicious, withhold payment, and report it to the supplier and, if needed, your bank.
Once the bank details have been verified and corrected, mark the XBert as resolved.