On a busy Monday morning, an accounts payable (AP) team receives what seems like a routine email from a long-time supplier: “We’ve changed banks. Please update our payment details before the next disbursement.” The AP clerk, juggling dozens of tasks and pressed for time, updates the record without thinking twice. After all, the email came from a supplier the clerk knew well. Payments are processed, but days later the supplier calls asking why they haven’t been paid. It’s only then that the team realizes they’ve wired thousands of dollars to a fraudster’s account. The funds are gone, the relationship with the supplier is damaged, and the company’s leadership is demanding answers.
This type of fraud happens every day, and it’s growing more sophisticated. According to the FBI, phony bank account change requests, often part of Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes, account for billions of dollars in annual losses. And when international suppliers are involved, the risk multiplies. Varying banking systems, non-standard account formats, and less transparency across borders make international verification even more complex, and even more critical. The reality is stark: organizations that don’t ACT with confidence are leaving themselves exposed.
Why Traditional Bank Account Verification Leaves You Exposed
For decades, AP and finance teams have relied on callbacks, emails, and paper-based methods to verify bank account changes. While these approaches once offered a measure of control, they now create more risk than security.
Here’s why:
- Easily spoofed communication. Fraudsters today can convincingly fake email domains, caller IDs, and even voicemail messages. That means a callback isn’t always calling who you think you’re calling. In many cases, organizations don’t realize until too late that they’ve confirmed details with a fraudster, not their trusted supplier. This creates a false sense of security that criminals exploit with alarming success.
- Human error. Staff under pressure may skip verification steps or fail to spot subtle red flags in a change request. Even the most diligent employees are human, and mistakes are inevitable when processes are manual and repetitive. Fraudsters count on that moment of fatigue or distraction, and it only takes one lapse to send money into the wrong hands.
- Slow processes. Manual verification often requires back-and-forth phone calls, emails, or mailed documents, which can stretch out for days. These delays frustrate suppliers waiting to be paid and increase friction in your vendor relationships. Worse, they can put pressure on staff to cut corners just to get payments out the door on time, weakening defenses further.
- Incomplete checks. Validating only the routing and account number doesn’t prove or verify bank account ownership or confirm that the account is active. Fraudsters can open accounts that appear valid on the surface but are controlled by bad actors. Without deeper checks tied to identity and compliance, organizations are essentially trusting blind – and blind trust has become one of the costliest mistakes AP and finance teams can make.
- International complexities. Verifying accounts across borders introduces additional challenges. Formats like IBAN, SWIFT, and local clearing codes differ by country, and fraudsters exploit this lack of standardization. Traditional processes often lack the ability to validate international details, leaving organizations vulnerable to fraud and compliance failures in global payments.
What It Looks Like to ACT with Confidence
Now imagine another organization that has modernized its approach. Every bank account change request – domestic or international – automatically routes through an automated, real-time verification process. Within seconds, the system confirms ownership against authoritative banking data, checks activity status, and screens for compliance requirements like OFAC and KYB.
Instead of placing manual callbacks, the AP team gets instant confirmation directly from trusted data sources. This eliminates the risk of being tricked by spoofed emails or fraudulent phone calls. The staff no longer wastes hours chasing verification, and the process is airtight.
Rather than relying on memory or judgment, the team benefits from automated guardrails that apply the same rigorous checks every single time. This consistency reduces risk, improves audit readiness, and removes human error from the equation. With built-in rules, no step is skipped, and fraudsters don’t find a way in.
Suppliers benefit from fast, seamless onboarding and payment readiness. Funds move quickly, trust strengthens, and the organization maintains a reputation as both diligent and efficient. The result: reduced risk without sacrificing speed – a win for finance, a win for compliance, and a win for supplier relationships.
For international suppliers, automated tools verify IBANs, SWIFT codes, and local clearing details with precision. The process ensures cross-border payments are routed correctly and comply with local banking regulations. Finance teams no longer struggle with the patchwork of international standards – they can trust that every global transaction is as secure as a domestic one.
This is what it means to ACT with confidence: Accurate, Complete, Timely.
Best Practices for Bank Account Verification: The ACT Pillars
The strongest defense against fraud comes from aligning your bank account verification processes with the ACT framework:
Accurate
- Use automated, real-time account ownership verification directly against authoritative banking data. This ensures validation comes from independent, trusted sources rather than supplier-provided documents. By removing reliance on PDFs, checks, or screenshots, all easily manipulated, AP and finance teams eliminate the gaps that fraudsters exploit.
- Eliminate reliance on supplier-provided screenshots, voided checks, or PDFs that can be forged. These documents may look authentic but are some of the easiest for fraudsters to fabricate. With direct-to-bank verification, AP and finance teams cut the middleman out of the equation and create a process that fraudsters can’t sidestep.
Complete
- Incorporate compliance checks like OFAC screening and Know Your Business (KYB) requirements. Fraud doesn’t just come from fake accounts. It also comes from sanctioned entities, shell companies, or businesses operating under false identities. Automated checks ensure you’re not just preventing fraud but also maintaining compliance with global regulations.
- Confirm that accounts are active, belong to the correct entity, and have no gaps in validation. A valid looking but dormant account can be just as risky as an outright fraudulent one. Ensuring completeness means you’re verifying not just the details but the real-world usability and legitimacy of the account.
- For international accounts, use tools that support validation of IBANs, SWIFT/BIC codes, and country-specific clearing formats. Best practice is to deploy automated solutions that leverage global bank reference databases and other verification methods, ensuring that you can validate account details across borders with the same rigor you apply domestically. This reduces payment errors, avoids compliance missteps, and ensures fraudsters don’t exploit global blind spots.
Timely
- Replace slow manual callbacks with instant verification to onboard suppliers and enable payments faster. Real-time processes mean suppliers don’t face delays, AP teams don’t get bogged down, and payments move without creating openings for fraud. It’s speed without compromise.
- Keep operations moving without compromising fraud prevention or compliance. Timeliness builds trust both internally and externally. Finance teams know they’re staying protected while suppliers see that their payments are processed quickly and professionally.
The Bottom Line
Fraudsters are getting smarter, and they’re targeting the gaps in outdated bank account verification processes, especially in international payments, where complexity and inconsistency create blind spots. Manual callbacks and incomplete checks are no longer enough. By adopting a modern approach built on the ACT pillars – Accurate, Complete, Timely – organizations can reduce fraud risk, strengthen compliance, and accelerate vendor payments everywhere they do business. Don’t wait until your organization becomes the next cautionary tale.
ACT now and verify with confidence.
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