Check payment instructions before paying for auction equipment

Check the buyer identity, sale reference, lot numbers, amount and payment deadline against your purchase records. Use the invoice checklist to separate a genuine billing question from uncertainty about the destination of the money.

Do not pay a second invoice merely because it looks newer. Establish whether it replaces the earlier version and why.

Use the payment methods and process confirmed for the actual sale. This guide does not state UK Auction Group's accepted methods, bank details or payment timetable.

The National Crime Agency's invoice-fraud guidance advises checking changes and confirming them with the genuine supplier through a previously used number. It explains that convincing emails and invoices can be altered or diverted.

Use contact details you have already established as genuine, or obtain them independently from the organisation's official site. Do not rely on a new number or link supplied in the suspicious instruction.

Ask the genuine organiser to confirm the invoice reference, payable amount and relevant payment details through its approved process. Keep the verification within the business's financial controls.

• Match the invoice to the lots the business actually bought.
• Check the applicable payment deadline through the sale documents.
• Verify new or changed payment instructions independently.
• Resolve any payee warning or mismatch rather than dismissing it.
• Obtain the required internal approval from the person authorised to pay.
• Record the approved invoice version and payment reference.
• Confirm how the organiser will acknowledge receipt and release.

Do not share online-banking passwords, security codes or unnecessary account information with someone claiming to help complete the sale. An organiser's need to identify a payment does not justify access to your banking credentials.

Preserve the message and invoice, record when they arrived and tell the genuine organiser. Use the pre-bid enquiry principles to make the question precise, even though this concern arises after purchase.

If money has already been sent and fraud is suspected, contact your bank immediately using its official route. NCSC fraud-response guidance also directs affected people to the appropriate reporting route, including Police Scotland for Scotland.

Follow the business's incident process where an account or device may be compromised. Do not assume that a message becomes safe because the sender replies confidently when challenged.

After the payment issue is resolved, obtain the organiser's release confirmation before sending a collector. A bank transfer receipt is not a substitute for the sale's approved release process.

The haulier authorisation guide explains how buyer authority and organiser release connect at collection.

For a sale managed by UK Auction Group, use UK Auction Group's official contact page to establish the genuine communication route. Verify the transaction before transferring money, and retain the evidence needed by the business's finance team.

Buyer guides