What actually makes a supplier deposit safe or risky?

Most supplier payment fraud isn’t sophisticated — it relies on a buyer skipping a basic verification step under time pressure, not on an elaborate scheme. A few consistent habits close off most of the actual risk.

The normal structure isn’t the problem

For larger orders paid by bank transfer, a smaller deposit upfront with the larger remaining balance due before or against shipping documents is a standard, widely used structure, with the upfront share well under half the total. This structure itself isn’t a warning sign; it’s simply how larger China-sourced orders are typically financed, distinct from the mobile-payment tools covered on the WeChat and Alipay page, which aren’t built for transactions at this scale in the first place.

What actually matters: where the money goes

Pay into a verified company bank account whose name matches the business you’re contracting with — not a personal account, and not an account under a different company name with an explanation attached, however plausible the explanation sounds. This single check catches a large share of deposit fraud on its own, because a fraudulent request very often routes around it in some way.

The account-change request is the single biggest red flag

A supplier suddenly asking you to send payment to a new account — a different bank, a different name, sometimes just before a payment is due — is one of the clearest signs of a compromised email or intercepted communication, a well-documented pattern in international wire fraud generally, not specific to sourcing from China. Verify any such request through a channel you already trust — a phone number you had before the request, not one included in the message itself — before sending anything.

Match the paperwork to the payment

The account name on a wire transfer should match the entity named on your invoice and, ideally, on the business license you’ve already verified separately. A mismatch you can’t get a clear, consistent explanation for is a reason to pause the payment, not a detail to wave past because the rest of the deal feels far along.

For a first order with an unfamiliar supplier

Consider whether the order justifies a documented purchase order with clear terms before any money moves — covered on the contracts page — and whether the size of the order justifies paying for independent verification of the supplier before committing to the deposit at all.

What’s next

Read how to put the deal in writing properly, or go back to the broader guide to sourcing scam mechanics this specifically protects against.