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.
T/T payment means telegraphic transfer, a bank wire. It does not use the card-chargeback process. Ask your bank about its validation and recall options before paying; recovery after a misdirected transfer is not guaranteed.
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, and do not rely 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.
Why full names matter in a search
Search candidates do not establish account ownership. Full names help narrow a search, but a matching result still needs to be linked to the contract and bank-issued evidence.
The archived batch compares three name forms for 45 manufacturers through Tianyancha. Its raw metadata records 21 August 2026 UTC. The archive is labelled 22 August; the exact query time was not retained.
| Spelling | Median returned |
|---|---|
| Full registered name | 2 |
| Region prefix dropped | 22 |
| Distinctive core only | 32 |
These are medians from this batch, not a rule for every company. A missing city or industry word can change the search results. Ask for the full name and supporting bank evidence rather than guessing from an abbreviation.
Search results measure name ambiguity. They do not show which entity owns an account or authorised an invoice.
Use the full legal name and credit code to identify a record. A valid code can still be copied onto a false document; ask your bank how it validates shortened or romanised beneficiary names.
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. Use a number you sourced independently. The number in the unexpected message does not count.
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.
In the 106-name search study, some returned candidates were Hong Kong entities. Those search rows do not prove an affiliate relationship, export arrangement or legitimate payment route for your supplier.
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 payment-entity guide with Australian reporting links for ACSC incident and Australian import-context links.
METHOD / 03
How this guide was prepared
The six-check sequence separates identity, payment roles and bank routing. The PBOC source concerns unit-account names; ISO defines BICs; FBI and IC3 describe payment-change and incident-response controls. Search studies only illustrate the limits of name matching.
Optional: English-name search outcomes
| Outcome of the search | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| No candidate returned at all | 45 of 106 | 42.5% |
| Exactly one candidate returned | 54 of 106 | 50.9% |
| More than one candidate returned | 7 of 106 | 6.6% |
This batch measures search outcomes, not successful identity confirmations. No result does not prove fraud; one result does not prove a match. Resolve any seller/payee difference with transaction documents and independent confirmation.
We did not inspect any reader’s supplier, bank account, invoice, email or transaction. This is general evidence-organising guidance. It is neither banking, legal, cyber-incident nor recovery advice. Records, bank procedures and reporting routes can change.
PRIMARY SOURCES / 04
Official sources used for this guide
ACSC: confirm payment changes using a known, verified number.
The original source review was on 30 July 2026. Payment-change guidance was also checked against ACSC on 6 September 2026. Use your bank’s official channel for your transfer; these links do not validate an account.
- 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 codePublished 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 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.