Fake wholesale buyers and net terms
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews bogus trade orders and credit accounts: UK checks with Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews the bogus trade customer as a British supplier meets it: a large order from what looks like a household-name retailer, a university or an NHS supplier, a request for a credit account, and goods sent to a unit that has nothing to do with the buyer. The invoice goes unpaid, and the company named on the order says it never heard of you. This guide by Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov covers what Report Fraud calls customer fraud, how to check a buyer at Companies House and against its VAT number, what retention of title can do under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, how to read trade references and reviews, and who to call if the lorry has already left.
English version for the United Kingdom.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews the fake trade order: how it reaches UK suppliers
The first contact feels routine. A procurement officer at a well-known chain, a manufacturer or a university asks for a quotation on stock that sells on easily: laptops, power tools, building materials, catering supplies. The email signature carries a job title, a logo and a landline number.
An order follows, noticeably larger than a new customer would normally place, together with a request to open a credit account. Delivery is to a regional depot, a contractor's yard or a storage unit in another county, sometimes collection by the buyer's own haulier.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews these cases and keeps finding one weak link: whoever signs for the goods has no connection with the company on the paperwork. The stock is broken up and moved on within hours, the procurement contact goes quiet, and the real company's accounts team rejects the invoice.
No hacking is needed. A recognisable name, a lookalike email address and a sales team chasing its target do the work, which is why the checks below focus on exactly those three points.
What Report Fraud calls customer fraud
Report Fraud describes criminals posing as customers who build trust before a large order or a request for a credit line they have no intention of paying. It lists the signs: unusually large orders, requests to bypass normal payment and delivery processes, few questions about the product, and delivery abroad or to a different address.
Its advice for trade customers is to check them through credit history and public records before extending credit. In practice that means three sources the buyer does not control: Companies House, the HMRC VAT check and a credit reference agency report bought by you.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews Report Fraud's list as a credit control checklist. Each sign on it describes a moment where the buyer asks the supplier to step outside its normal routine, and each can be answered with the routine itself.
Customer fraud sits next to the better-known mandate fraud, where criminals pose as a familiar supplier and ask for payment details to be changed. A sales ledger can meet both in the same month, so Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggests that one person owns verification for new customers and changes to supplier bank details alike.
Spoofed addresses and the phone number you should not ring
Compare the sender's domain with the domain of the buyer's official website, found through a search engine. Fakes swap a letter, add a word such as group or trading, use a different suffix, or come from a free webmail account with the company name in front.
Look at the reply address as well. A message can display a convincing sender while answers go to another mailbox. Opening the headers, or starting a reply and checking the To line, shows where your response would land. Suspicious emails can be forwarded to report@phishing.gov.uk, where the NCSC examines them.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews failed deliveries by asking which number the supplier rang to confirm. Usually it was the one in the email signature, answered by the same person who sent the order. Ring the switchboard number from the company's own website and ask procurement whether the colleague and the order are real.
The short video below runs through the same checks for UK firms. Match the domain to the official site, look the buyer up at Companies House, check its VAT number with HMRC, keep title to the goods until payment, and report losses to Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews bogus trade customers: UK checks before credit Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews the buyer against Companies House records
GOV.UK lets anyone get Companies House information about a company free of charge: registered office address, date of incorporation, current and resigned directors, previous names and insolvency details. You can also sign up for free alerts when the record changes.
For a fake order placed in a real company's name, the record will look clean, and its value lies elsewhere. It gives you the registered office and the directors, which every other detail in the email should match. A delivery address unrelated to the registered office or any known site is a reason to ring the switchboard.
Since 18 November 2025 identity verification has been compulsory at Companies House for new directors and people with significant control, with a 12-month transition for existing ones. A director recorded as verified tells you who runs the company, though it says nothing about who wrote the email in its name.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews the paper trail too: save the Companies House page with the date, the VAT check result and notes of every call. If the case reaches the police or a court, they show the checks came before the delivery.
Checking the VAT number on the order
HMRC's Check a UK VAT number service on GOV.UK confirms whether a UK VAT registration number is valid and shows the name and address it is registered to. It cannot search by business name, so ask the buyer for the number and run it yourself.
A VAT number that comes back registered to a different name, or to an address that matches neither the order nor Companies House, ends the conversation about credit. A buyer that refuses to give its VAT number while asking for a sizeable account deserves the same answer.
Keep the result with the account file. The check takes the number you were given and returns the registration behind it, which turns a claim on the purchase order into a record you looked up yourself.
Run the check again when anything on the account changes: a new delivery site, a new contact or a sudden jump in order size. A fraudster who takes over an established customer's identity can keep the real VAT number on the paperwork, so the number proves the company exists, while the switchboard call proves that the company is the one ordering.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews where UK suppliers can check a trade customer
What to check Where What you learn Company record Companies House on GOV.UK Registered office, directors, insolvency VAT number HMRC Check a UK VAT number Registered name and address Colleague and order Switchboard on official site Whether both are real Delivery address Map search and company record Whether the site is the buyer's Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews trade references and online reviews
A big new customer will often volunteer referees: speak to our other suppliers, they know us. Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews trade references as worth having only when you find the referee yourself, through its website or Companies House, and ask about specific orders, account limits and how promptly invoices were settled.
A referee's number taken from the buyer's email confirms nothing, because the person answering was chosen by the buyer. It is the same trick as the procurement officer's landline, moved one step further away.
Star ratings for a company's products tell you little about how it pays suppliers. County Court Judgments, insolvency notices and the filing history at Companies House sit much closer to the question of whether an invoice will be paid.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews freshness as a warning sign. A company incorporated a few months ago, with glowing reviews and no filed accounts, asking for a large order on credit, is a pattern to slow down for.
Delivery addresses that do not belong to the buyer
The delivery address gives away more than the letterhead. A self-storage unit, a residential street, a parcel shop or a freight forwarder's yard has no link to a company whose registered office and depots are elsewhere. Run the address through a map search before booking the haulier.
Collection by the buyer's own driver brings a signed authority on headed paper, which proves nothing on its own. Confirm the driver and vehicle registration with the company by phone, using its published number, ideally before the lorry arrives.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews timing as well. Requests to collect late on a Friday or before a bank holiday land when nobody at the real company's office will answer the phone.
If the address does not match, ask for confirmation from the company's verified email domain, or change the deal: proforma payment for the first order and delivery only to the registered office or a depot you can confirm.
Retention of title and the Sale of Goods Act 1979
Section 19(1) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 lets the seller reserve the right of disposal of goods until certain conditions are met, and property then does not pass to the buyer, even if the goods were delivered to the buyer or to a carrier, until those conditions are fulfilled.
In practice suppliers use this through a retention of title clause in their terms: goods remain yours until paid for. The clause works best when the terms are accepted before the first order and the goods can be identified later, with batch numbers or serials on the delivery note.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews retention of title for what it is: protection against a real customer who fails to pay. Against a stranger who emptied a storage unit overnight, it helps only if the goods are traced, so the main defence still sits before dispatch.
Make sure the clause is actually part of the contract. Terms printed on the back of an invoice sent after delivery arrive too late to bind a first order, so new customers sign or accept the terms with the account application.
Remittance screenshots and bank letters
Close to dispatch, a bogus customer may send a screenshot of a bank transfer, a remittance advice or a letter on bank headed paper to hurry the goods out. None of these is payment. Funds have arrived when your own bank account shows them as cleared.
A bank letter is checked with the bank that supposedly issued it, using the phone number on that bank's official website. Contact details printed on the letter itself belong to whoever produced it.
Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggests a single release rule for the warehouse: goods go out when cleared funds are on the account or the issuing bank has confirmed its commitment directly to you. A promise from the buyer that the money is on its way meets neither test.
The same rule protects the sales team. When a large customer is shouting about a missed delivery slot, the answer is a written procedure everyone already knows, and nobody has to make a judgement call under pressure.
Write the rule into the credit policy and the warehouse instructions in the same words. Fraud tends to slip through the gap between departments, where sales believes finance has cleared an order and the warehouse believes sales has, so the release note should name the person who confirmed the funds.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews the first order: proforma terms and a call to the switchboard
A new account earns credit in stages. The first order goes on proforma or with a deposit, the next on short terms, and the limit rises with the payment record. Genuine customers treat this as ordinary credit control.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews haste as a signal. A buyer who does not haggle, asks little about specifications, warranty or lead times, and keeps returning to delivery dates and addresses is interested in something other than your product.
Ring the company before accepting the order, on the switchboard number from its official website. Ask for procurement or accounts payable and quote the order number and the buyer's name. The person should exist and the order should be known.
For orders in a university's or public body's name, ask where to send the invoice and who will receive the goods. Invoice details that match the institution beside a delivery address that does not settle the question.
If the goods have gone: carrier, real company, Report Fraud
Ring the haulier and the receiving site straight away and tell them the consignment was obtained by fraud. Then call the real company on its switchboard number so it knows its name is being used.
Report to Report Fraud online or on 0300 123 2040 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or to Police Scotland on 101. Keep the full email headers, the quotation and order, the account application, delivery notes, the driver's details and call notes.
Fraud by false representation under sections 1 and 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 carries up to 10 years in prison or a fine on conviction on indictment. Report Fraud also warns that criminals sometimes come back to victims offering to recover their money, which is a second scam.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews the civil side too: if your terms reserved title and the goods are traced, a solicitor can advise on recovering them. Forward any follow-up emails to report@phishing.gov.uk as well.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews a credit control routine for UK sales teams
Before accepting the order: the sender's domain and reply address match the buyer's website, Companies House shows the company and its registered office, the VAT number checks out with HMRC, and a switchboard call confirmed the colleague and the order.
Before dispatch: the delivery address belongs to the buyer or was confirmed from its verified domain, the first order is paid on proforma, and your terms with retention of title were accepted in writing.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews this routine as something to keep on the customer file. A credit decision then rests on checks, and a sales rep can turn down an urgent big order by pointing to company policy.
Show the routine to new customers at the start. A genuine buyer will recognise it, since its own suppliers ask for much the same. A customer who answers with pressure, deadlines and threats to go elsewhere has usually told you what you needed to know.
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews who to contact after a bogus order in the UK
Who When What to give them Haulier and receiving site Immediately Consignment details Real company Same day Copy of the bogus order Report Fraud, 0300 123 2040 Same day Headers, order, delivery notes Police Scotland, 101 If you are in Scotland The same evidence report@phishing.gov.uk For each suspicious email The email itself
Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews a genuine trade customer next to a bogus one
| Sign | Genuine customer | Bogus order |
|---|---|---|
| Domain of the official website | Lookalike domain or free webmail | |
| Phone | Switchboard on the official site | Number only in the signature |
| Delivery | Registered office or known depot | Storage unit, parcel shop, forwarder |
| VAT number | Matches name and address at HMRC | Missing or registered elsewhere |
| Terms | Accepts proforma for the first order | Wants a credit account at once |
| Questions | Asks about specs and lead times | Asks only about delivery |
Questions and answers
- Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews new trade customers: should a large first order get a credit account?
- Safer to take the first order on proforma or with a deposit and raise the limit with the payment record. Report Fraud lists unusually large orders and credit line requests among the signs of customer fraud.
- How do I check that an order email really came from the company?
- Compare the sender's domain and reply address with the company's official website, then ring the switchboard number from that website, never the number in the email.
- Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reviews trade references: which ones can I trust?
- Only referees you find yourself through their websites or Companies House, asked about specific orders and payment speed. Numbers supplied by the buyer prove nothing.
- What does a VAT number check show?
- HMRC's service on GOV.UK confirms whether a UK VAT number is valid and shows the name and address it is registered to. It cannot search by company name.
- Does retention of title protect me?
- Under section 19(1) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 property can stay with the seller until conditions such as payment are met, which helps if the goods are traced.
- Where do I report a bogus order?
- To Report Fraud online or on 0300 123 2040, or Police Scotland on 101, and forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.