Does an invoice prove that payment was made?¶

No. An invoice records a claimed liability or request for payment, not actual movement of value.

Request and transaction are separate¶

It may show supplier, customer, items, amount, currency, tax, due date, invoice ID and payment instructions. It can be unpaid, changed, duplicated, fabricated or redirected; “paid” may be a manual accounting status.

A fraudulent invoice can copy a genuine supplier while substituting an offender-controlled account. Payment to listed details therefore does not prove receipt by the real supplier.

Match the independent financial event¶

Preserve the original file, email or message and metadata. Compare supplier originals and known instructions, then match invoice number, amount, account and reference to bank, card, wallet, processor or merchant records.

Report invoice, instruction, actual transaction and ultimate recipient separately.