Payment fraud in Dutch payments rose in 2025. Transfers, card payments, and cash withdrawals saw more fraudulent transactions. Instant payments and online payments leave less time to stop a bad instruction.
Why this matters
One false payment can still hit the VAT reserve, rent buffer, payroll cash, or stock budget. The bank may show an approved transfer, and the invoice may look paid. Yet the approval could have been pushed by a changed IBAN, a fake bank call, a false payment link, or supplier impersonation. That makes payment control a daily file issue in email, supplier records, refunds, payroll files, and bank access.
Example
A supplier email arrives near closing time. The invoice number fits, but the message says the bank account changed after an internal reorganisation. The amount is EUR 12,000, and the project team wants the invoice cleared. If the company pays the wrong account, the real supplier may still be unpaid. Cash leaves the bank, and the bookkeeper needs a clean file showing who checked what and when the bank was contacted.
XTROVERSO tips
- Make a short pause list. Write down the payment signals that always trigger a stop. Keep it short: changed IBAN, same-day urgency, new foreign beneficiary, refund to another account, bankhelpdesk call, or a request outside the normal channel.
- Check bank changes outside email. Do not trust the email thread that asks for the change. Call a trusted number already in your records. Save the check in the supplier file, contract, invoice, or order.
- Separate preparing from approving. A micro-business does not need a fraud department. One person can prepare normal payments. Abnormal payments need a second check by the owner, manager, or bookkeeper.
- Clean up access. Review bank users, accounting software users, saved beneficiaries, old employees, and external adviser access. Remove access that no longer fits the work.
- Treat incoming money as a file. Payer, customer, invoice, contract, delivery address, and bank account should tell one clear story. If a third party pays, note why that makes business sense.
- Give staff permission to stop. Tell staff that an abnormal payment can wait. Fraud uses hurry, politeness, hierarchy, and fatigue. A short pause is better than a bad transfer.
Want to set up a simple payment check routine for your company?
The data, sourcing, and analysis behind this article were conducted by Linda Pavan. AI was not used to identify sources, build the factual basis, or produce the analytical judgment contained here. AI was used only as a drafting aid. The final English text was personally reviewed, edited, and approved by Linda Pavan before publication.
References
- De Nederlandsche Bank - 2025 payment fraud figures
- De Nederlandsche Bank - Definition and publication of fraud data
- De Nederlandsche Bank - Bank and payment institution fraud controls
- CBS - Online fraud victimisation
- Autoriteit Financiële Markten - Fraud complaint handling by payment providers
- FIU-Nederland - Fraud proceeds, unusual transactions, and business exposure
- FIU-Nederland - New FIU suspension power from 1 July 2026
- Rijksoverheid - Cash payment limit for goods from 1 January 2026
