Frankfurt am Main, 17 April 2026 – As digitalisation progresses, invoices are increasingly being sent electronically or entered directly into cloud portals. Whilst this boosts efficiency and speed, it also opens up new vulnerabilities for cybercriminals.
In particular, through cyberattacks, Business Email Compromise (BEC) and phishing attacks, fraudsters are increasingly succeeding in deliberately manipulating payment processes.
The attackers’ focus is not primarily on creating fake invoices. Instead, they deliberately manipulate the bank details of existing suppliers in order to redirect payment flows.
This is done in various ways: either the attackers gain access to the electronic transmission channels for invoices and alter the bank details stored there. In other cases, they manage to infiltrate supplier networks – such as cloud-based procurement platforms – and change the bank details directly.
The result: payments are diverted unnoticed to the fraudsters’ accounts. Once transfers have been initiated – for example, for invoices or standing orders – they are often difficult or impossible to recover.
In addition to the immediate financial losses, this leads to additional manual effort, delays in paying suppliers and significant reputational risks.
To counteract this trend, companies – particularly in accounts payable – must tighten their control mechanisms. It is crucial to verify changes to bank details immediately before payments are executed.
With the PreVOP solution from alseda Consulting, bank details can be verified in real time right at the start of the payment process (Verification of Payee).
In this process, the IBAN and account holder details are transmitted to the payee’s bank and automatically matched. The result is returned in real time.
In the event of fraud, the details do not match, enabling the manipulation to be detected before a payment is made. This effectively prevents so-called payment diversion – quickly, easily and cost-effectively.
Frank Bergmann, Managing Director at alseda Consulting, explains:
“Cyberattacks on payment processes are increasing significantly as a result of digitalisation. Manipulated bank details resulting from phishing or BEC attacks pose a particular risk. With our solution, we enable the early validation of bank details and support finance and treasury teams in securing their payment processes.”
The PreVOP solution was developed specifically for companies with SAP-based payment processes. It integrates seamlessly into existing procure-to-pay and treasury processes, strengthens security mechanisms in payment transactions and does not interfere with established workflows.
Particularly in the case of bulk payments, supplier changes and centralised payment structures, early validation helps to minimise risks and ensure greater transparency.
alseda Consulting specialises in SAP-based solutions for payment transactions, treasury and financial processes. The company supports banks and businesses in Europe in implementing secure, efficient and regulatory-compliant payment processes.
Further information: https://alseda.com.
alseda Consulting
Loredana Samban
infomail@alseda.com
Tel +49 69 264846-80