Verifying Invoices Before Releasing Goods

Businesses that process large volumes of supplier or inter-company invoices are targets for document fraud — where criminals produce convincing forgeries of legitimate paperwork and present them to staff who release goods without independent verification. The scheme works because it exploits routine: staff who process invoices every day develop a habit of visual acceptance rather than active verification, and a well-made forgery is indistinguishable from a genuine document to someone who is not checking. In April 2026, Gopaul & Co. Ltd. in the Frederick Settlement Industrial Estate lost $32,162 in goods after fraudsters presented fake invoices on two separate occasions — April 21st and April 24th — to employees who accepted them and released stock without verification. The fraud was only discovered during a routine inventory check.

Steps to follow:

• No goods should be released on the basis of a presented invoice alone — require that every invoice be matched against a purchase order or delivery schedule held internally before stock leaves the premises.
• Designate a specific staff member — separate from the person receiving the delivery — to verify the invoice number against your accounts system before authorizing release.
• When an invoice is presented in person by an unfamiliar individual, contact the issuing company using a phone number held in your own records, not a number printed on the presented document; forged invoices often carry substitute contact numbers.
• Train all goods-handling staff to escalate any invoice that seems unusual in format, numbering, or delivery timing to a supervisor before releasing anything; pressure to release goods quickly without following the normal process is a primary warning sign.
• Run a daily reconciliation of goods dispatched against expected deliveries and confirmed orders — discrepancies caught the same day are far easier to investigate than those identified in a weekly or monthly audit.
• Keep a reference file of legitimate supplier invoice formats, including header design, logo placement, and numbering patterns, so that staff can identify deviations without relying solely on the document’s content.