Fake Procurement Scams on Email
Fraudsters email businesses with fake purchase orders, often impersonating a known organisation, to obtain goods on credit or trick suppliers into upfront costs.
Part of: Fake Procurement Scams
Last reviewed: 1 June 2026
Fake procurement scams use email to send convincing purchase orders that appear to come from a reputable organisation. A supplier excited to win a large order from a recognised name may ship goods on credit or pay upfront fees, only to discover the buyer was never real.
Email is ideal for this because purchase orders, requests for quotation, and supplier onboarding all flow through it. A well-formatted order on familiar-looking letterhead, sent to a supplier's sales inbox, can pass for a genuine opportunity and bypass the checks a more skeptical context might trigger.
How this scam works on Email
The scammer impersonates a known company or institution, emailing a supplier with a purchase order for goods, sometimes referencing real names or addresses to add credibility. The order is often sizeable enough to be enticing.
They ask for goods to be supplied on credit terms, or steer the supplier toward an upfront cost such as a fee to a fake logistics or registration provider they control. Communication uses lookalike domains and professional formatting to sustain the illusion of a real buyer.
If the supplier ships goods, they are delivered to an address the scammer controls and the invoice is never paid. If the supplier pays an upfront fee, that money is lost. The genuine organisation being impersonated is unaware until contacted about an order it never placed.
Common red flags
- An unexpectedly large purchase order from an organisation you do not normally supply
- A buyer email domain that subtly differs from the real organisation's
- A request for goods on credit before any relationship is established
- Being steered toward an upfront fee to a specified logistics provider
- Delivery addresses that differ from the organisation's known locations
- Pressure to fulfil the order quickly to win the business
How to protect yourself
- Verify the purchase order by calling the organisation on a known number
- Confirm the buyer's email domain matches the genuine organisation
- Run credit checks before supplying goods to a new buyer on terms
- Be wary of any required upfront fee to a third-party provider
- Check that delivery addresses match the organisation's known sites
- Confirm the contact independently rather than trusting the order alone
How to report it
- Report the fraudulent order to your national fraud or cybercrime centre
- Alert the genuine organisation being impersonated
- Notify your bank if any upfront fee was paid
Frequently asked questions
We received a large purchase order from a well-known company. How do we check it is real?
Call the organisation on a number you find independently, not one on the order, and confirm the purchase with a known contact. Check the buyer's email domain carefully and verify the delivery address before shipping goods on credit.