Invoice fraud detection before the payment leaves
CAVRIX screens incoming invoices for altered bank details, unknown suppliers and duplicates. You get a decision with a reason attached, not a gut feeling.
The costliest fraud case in a mid-sized company is rarely a network breach. It is an invoice that looks entirely genuine.
Altered bank details: attackers intercept a real invoice, swap the IBAN and resend it with a credible history. The EBA/ECB Report on Payment Fraud 2025 records 474 million euro in credit transfer fraud in Germany for reference year 2024, and 74 percent of EEA credit transfer fraud relies on manipulating the payer.
Fake suppliers and duplicate payments blend into normal volume. The ACFE Report to the Nations 2026 attributes 21 percent of all cases to billing schemes, with a median loss of 90,000 USD and a median 14 months before detection.
Standard checks in common ERP systems are often configured as a warning only and get clicked away under deadline pressure. Across separate posting paths, for example between subsidiaries or upstream systems, they do not apply at all.
Structure and format
- Schema validation of ZUGFeRD and XRechnung files
- Reconciliation of the structured data against the visible invoice image
- Plausibility checks on amounts, tax rates, service period and purchase order reference
Bank details and supplier master data
- IBAN matched against the supplier master record on file
- Detection of changed bank details, with a hold period before the first payment
- Dual approval for every master data change, logged and traceable
Duplicates and evidence
- Duplicate screening across creditor, invoice number, amount and date
- Normalisation of leading zeros, spaces and formatting variants in invoice numbers
- Complete audit logging as the basis for your GoBD process documentation
Anomalies surface while the money is still in your account
Every incoming invoice runs through the same rules, whatever route it took
Every approval and every exception is documented and holds up in an audit
Verification
Does this replace the checks in our ERP system?
No, it sits alongside them. ERP side checks are frequently set to warn rather than block, and they only work within a single posting path. CAVRIX adds a control layer that behaves the same across entities, upstream systems and payment runs, and that allows a hard stop instead of a soft notice.
Since 9 October 2025, banks in the euro area offer verification of payee. Is that not enough?
The payee matching service under Regulation (EU) 2024/886 is a useful additional safeguard, not a substitute. It only applies at the moment of transfer, it does not catch duplicates or a fake supplier whose name matches cleanly, and in practice it does not apply to bulk payment files. That is exactly where most of the payment volume sits.
Are we legally required to run software like this?
No. There is no obligation to operate invoice screening software. What is relevant are the supply chain security and access control requirements in Sec. 30 (2) no. 4 and no. 9 BSIG, controls A.5.7 and A.5.17 of ISO 27001:2022, the German GoBD rules on process documentation, and Sec. 130 OWiG on management supervisory duties, which carries fines of up to 1 million euro. Documented invoice screening is one way to meet those expectations.
How does e-invoicing change the picture?
Electronic invoicing is being made mandatory in German B2B. The practical effect matters most to you: structured formats such as ZUGFeRD and XRechnung make automated checking possible in the first place, because IBAN, creditor and invoice number arrive as data fields instead of pixels on a page.
How does a project start?
We map your invoice intake and payment routes, agree thresholds for hold periods and dual approval, and run the screening in parallel at first. Only once hit quality is right do advisories become binding stops. Questions to info@cavrix.de.
Talk to us before the next altered IBAN goes through
We review your invoice intake and tell you plainly where the gaps are and what can be closed without a large programme.