What it means
A fake invoice asks a business to pay for a product or service it did not order, or uses a familiar brand to induce a call or click. It can be a payment fraud or an entry point for credential theft through an attachment.
A real-world example
An email says the office's software renewal is overdue. The logo and invoice number look official, but procurement has no matching contract. Paying it because it looks routine would bypass the actual purchase record.
What to do
Match the bill to an approved order, verify the vendor through an existing contact and separate suspicious invoices from the normal payment queue.
The distinction that matters
A genuine supplier can also be impersonated; a matching name alone is not enough. Look for an authorized purchase order and ask the internal buyer, not only the sender. FTC warns of both fake small-business invoices and phishing attempts delivered as invoices.
FTC invoice warning
