PAYMENT WORKFLOW / 01
Create one approval record before you send money.
Do not treat a bank account number, a SWIFT code or a stamped letter as a complete verification. Each proves a different, limited point. Record the six checks together so a reviewer can see which legal entity is selling, invoicing and receiving funds.
Lock the supplier’s registered Chinese identity
Collect the exact Chinese legal name and Unified Social Credit Code from the business licence. Match them to the current National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System record and preserve the query date.
Keep the English brand, marketplace storefront and salesperson name as aliases. They are not substitutes for the registered entity that should appear in the transaction documents.
Freeze the complete payment instruction
Record the contract seller, invoice issuer, beneficiary or account-holder name, account destination, bank name, bank country, BIC or SWIFT code, currency and payment reference exactly as supplied. Keep the version and approval date.
Do not send bank-login credentials, card numbers or payment authentication data to a supplier-verification service. Use your own bank’s official channel for transfer validation and retain only the evidence your internal approval process needs.
Match a mainland unit account to its account-opening identity
For a mainland China unit account, the account name, account-opening documents and reserved seal name should be consistent. That is the naming rule described in an official People’s Bank of China response about unit bank accounts.
Compare the bank-account name with the Chinese legal name rather than relying on English transliteration alone. When a bank interface shortens or romanises a name, ask the supplier for bank-issued account-name evidence and ask your own bank how it will display or validate the beneficiary. Do not guess that two different names are the same entity.
An account-opening document supports the name used to open that account. It does not prove that the current email, invoice or payment request was authorised by the supplier.
Document every different beneficiary or jurisdiction
A mainland manufacturer may sell through a trading company, export agent or Hong Kong affiliate. That structure is not automatically improper, but it introduces another legal entity into the money path.
Ask for the other entity’s legal identity, its relationship to the supplier, why it receives this payment and which contract or invoice makes it responsible for the transaction. Hold an unexplained personal or unrelated third-party beneficiary and obtain transaction-specific professional advice when the amount or exposure is material.
Validate the bank and BIC without overstating what they prove
Check the bank name, country and BIC through your financial institution or an authoritative bank-reference channel. ISO 9362 defines the BIC as an identifier used to address messages, route transactions and identify business parties.
A BIC identifies a financial institution or business party for routing; it does not prove that your supplier owns the beneficiary account. Treat bank routing and account-holder identity as separate checks.
Treat every changed account or payment procedure as a new approval
The FBI warns that business email compromise can imitate a known business and alter payment instructions. It recommends verifying a change in account number or payment procedure by calling the person making the request through a number you sourced independently—not a number supplied in the unexpected message.
Cancel the earlier approval, compare the change with the last trusted instruction, inspect the sender domain and confirm through a second channel already associated with the supplier. Record who confirmed the change, how, when and against which known contact.
Urgency, secrecy or pressure to bypass the normal reviewer is a reason to slow down, not a reason to skip the check.
DECISION TABLE / 02
What each result means now
| What you see | Decision now | Evidence still needed |
|---|---|---|
| Registered supplier, contract seller, invoice issuer and beneficiary are the same entity | Continue bank-routing, order and internal approval checks | Dated registry result, final invoice and bank instruction |
| English name is shortened or romanised but the Chinese account name is said to match | Do not decide from spelling alone | Chinese account-holder name, bank-issued evidence and your bank’s validation |
| A disclosed trading company, export agent or affiliate receives payment | Hold until the entity chain is documented | Both legal identities, relationship evidence, contract and invoice alignment |
| A person or unrelated third party receives payment | Do not transfer while the mismatch remains unexplained | Independent explanation and transaction-specific professional review |
| The BIC and bank are valid but the beneficiary relationship is unproven | Routing check passed; identity check remains open | Account-holder evidence tied to the contracting chain |
| Any account number or payment procedure changed | Revoke the prior approval and verify through a known second channel | Independent confirmation and a fresh approval record |
If funds were sent to suspicious details, contact your bank now
The FBI and IC3 advise contacting the originating financial institution as soon as fraud is recognised to request available recall, reversal or hold actions. What is possible depends on the banks, payment rail, timing and jurisdiction; recovery is not guaranteed.
Preserve the invoice, payment instruction, bank confirmation, email headers, chat history and account-change message. Report the incident through the official fraud or cybercrime route for your jurisdiction. US-based victims can use IC3; buyers elsewhere should use their own national reporting authority.
Keep payment identity separate from factory and product evidence
A matched beneficiary does not establish manufacturing capability, product quality, compliance, delivery or refund performance. Continue with the five-layer factory-capability workflow and the product-specific controls required in your destination market.
Use the global supplier due diligence checklist to keep legal identity, transaction authority, capability, order fit, payment path and the next release decision in one dated control record.
Australian importers can also use the Australia-focused payment-entity guide for ACSC incident and Australian import-context links.
METHOD / 03
How this guide was prepared
Currawong Web’s China-side verification desk reviewed the official sources below on 30 July 2026. The PBOC source supports the unit-account naming rule; ISO defines what a BIC identifies; FBI and IC3 support the independent-change check and immediate bank-contact steps. The six-check sequence is our synthesis of those narrow controls.
We did not inspect any reader’s supplier, bank account, invoice, email or transaction. This is general evidence-organising guidance, not banking, legal, cyber-incident or recovery advice. Records, bank procedures and reporting routes can change.
PRIMARY SOURCES / 04
Official sources used for this guide
Links and page content were checked on 30 July 2026. Re-open the live source and use your bank’s official contact channel before a material payment.
- National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity SystemOfficial China market-entity identity record used to establish the registered supplier before comparing payment parties.
- People’s Bank of China — Bank account naming responseOfficial explanation that a unit account name, the name on account-opening proof and the reserved seal name should remain consistent.
- ISO 9362:2022 — Business identifier codeCurrent published standard describing BIC structure and its role in addressing, routing and identifying business parties.
- FBI — Business Email CompromiseKnown-channel verification, account-change checks, lookalike-domain warning signs and immediate financial-institution contact.
- IC3 — Business Email CompromiseSecondary-channel verification and first-response steps for a suspected unauthorised transfer.
COMMON QUESTIONS / 05
Do not collapse six checks into one answer
- Can a Chinese supplier ask me to pay a Hong Kong account?
- A different jurisdiction or entity is not automatically fraud, but it needs a documented role in the contract, invoice and supplier relationship before approval.
- Does a valid SWIFT or BIC prove the beneficiary belongs to the supplier?
- No. It can identify a bank or business party used for routing. Account-holder ownership and the relationship to your supplier need separate evidence.
- What if only the English beneficiary spelling differs?
- Obtain the Chinese account-holder name and bank-issued evidence, then ask your own bank how it validates or displays the name. Do not infer identity from transliteration alone.
- Should I reply to the email that changed the bank details?
- Do not use the same message as the only verification channel. Contact an established person through a phone number or channel you obtained independently before the change.
- Can Currawong Web confirm that an account is safe?
- No. A dated public-record or document review can organise visible matches and unresolved differences; only the relevant bank can validate its own account and payment controls.