€140,000 recovered for business invoice scam victim

Our client was awaiting an invoice from a known supplier for some work they had agreed upon. They were communicating with the legitimate company and arranging for the invoice to be sent, which they would pay within the due date.

During the communication, they received an email from someone claiming to work with the supplier. They claimed they were responsible for collecting the debt from our client and sent them an invoice for this to be paid.

Our client conducted their due diligence and checked the company’s name on Companies House. They emailed back to ask further questions, which the 'debt collectors' answered professionally and calmly to ease their concerns.

Our client, believing they were working with the legitimate supplier, paid the invoice and was under the impression that this was settled.

Until they were contacted by the legitimate supplier

The legitimate supplier sent the genuine invoice to our client and asked them to pay it. Our client, believing this had already been paid, emailed back to say they had paid it. The supplier stated there was no record of this and confirmed the invoice they paid was not related to them.

Our client, unfortunately, realised they had been the victim of an invoice scam.

How Refundee built the case for recovery

• Step 1 - Investigation: Our team conducted a thorough investigation to establish the fraudulent nature of the case, gathering evidence to build a strong case
• Step 2 - Utilising FR banking regulations, we constructed detailed arguments for why the sending bank should bear liability for the losses.
• Step 3 - Financial Ombudsman escalation: We escalated the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), presenting our evidence and regulatory arguments to make the case for reimbursement.
• Step 4 - Recovery: €140,000 recovered for our client