Before money moves, confirm the request in a way the sender did not choose. A phone number, link or email address inside a message was chosen by whoever sent it, so a check through those only reaches the sender.
The short answer. Before money moves, confirm the request in a way the sender did not choose. A phone number, link or email address inside a message was chosen by the sender, so use contact details you already hold or find yourself. The rule slows a request down and does not prove who sent it.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026. The rule is UtilForge’s own one-line summary of advice published by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Federal Trade Commission and the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC). It is general information, not legal or financial advice.
The rule
Before money moves, confirm the request in a way the sender did not choose.
What the rule means
Contact details that you already hold, or that you find yourself, were not chosen by the sender. Confirming through them is the step each agency below describes in its own words.
How it applies
- A message or call that says it is your bank. Hang up or ignore the message, and call the number on your card or in the bank’s app. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s alert of 3 December 2024 advises finding the organisation’s contact details yourself and calling that number directly. SABRIC advises using your own contact details.
- A supplier or a colleague who changes bank details. Confirm the change using a phone number you already hold for them. This is UtilForge’s application of the rule. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center counted 24,768 complaints of business email compromise in 2025, with reported losses of about $3.05 billion. It describes the crime as targeting businesses and people who work with suppliers and make wire transfers.
- A relative asking for money. The Federal Bureau of Investigation advises agreeing a secret word or phrase with family. A relative phones asking for money explains how.
- A recruiter or employer asking for payment. The Federal Trade Commission says never to pay anyone to get a job, and advises researching the company and the recruiter independently. How can I tell if a recruiter is real? has six questions.
- Someone offering to get lost money back. A stranger who contacts you first has chosen how to reach you. Someone offers to get your money back explains how these offers work.
- An invoice or a payment page. The guide to checking a payment page has the questions, and a free tool runs them on your own device.
If money has already moved
The Federal Trade Commission advises reporting it to your bank, credit union or payment app straight away and asking for the payment to be reversed and refunded. How to report a suspicious text or call has where to report in the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa.
What the rule cannot do
This section is UtilForge’s own reasoning. The rule slows a request down and does not prove who sent it. It does not help if the contact details you hold came from an earlier fraudulent message, or if someone you know has had an account taken over, so a number you saved from a message is not one you hold independently.
Sources
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center alert, 3 December 2024
- Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center 2025 Internet Crime Report (business email compromise figures)
- The Federal Trade Commission, college students and job scams, 11 June 2025
- The Federal Trade Commission, what to do if you were scammed (page last modified 21 August 2026)
- SABRIC, how to stay safe (no date shown on the page)
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