I am sharing this experience publicly because it serves as an important reminder: even seasoned professionals are not immune to financial scams.
What happened to my firm in January 2026 could have resulted in a significant financial loss. Fortunately, due diligence and a healthy level of skepticism prevented that outcome.
If this story helps even one business owner avoid becoming the next victim, it is worth sharing.
The Engagement Looked Legitimate
A few weeks ago, my firm was contacted by a Chinese entity.
They requested assistance with:
- Setting up a Canadian corporation
- Ongoing bookkeeping and accounting support
- Structuring a commission-agent model between Canada and China
This is standard cross-border advisory work for our practice.
We did some preliminary due diligence on Chinese networks that the company was legitimate (it was publicly listed on the Shanghai stock exchange) and verified the LinkedIn profile of the “Operations Manager” that approached me. They provided what appeared to be legitimate corporate details, signed an engagement agreement, and communicated professionally over several weeks. The emails were detailed, consistent, and referenced lawyers, banking arrangements, and operational timelines.
Everything appeared credible.
I issued my initial invoice for professional fees covering our retainer and first month of services, totaling $4,500.
They advised that their lawyers were still working on the Canadian incorporation and that the Canadian bank account was still being established. They then requested a one-time workaround: one of their Canadian customers (“CMT”) would pay my firm directly on their behalf instead of remitting payment to China for their last invoice.
This is not uncommon in international transactions, particularly during initial onboarding.
At that point, nothing raised immediate concern.
Yesterday, my office received a cheque that was sent via courier, payable to Brian Li CPA Professional Corporation for $40,500.
Not $4,500.
$40,500.
The courier package also attached CMT’s detailed invoice for $40,500.
I paused. Did they expect me to deposit the cheque and wire back the excess funds? Probably. To date, no instructions have been provided.
The amount discrepancy felt unusual.
I therefore independently contacted the Canadian company (CMT) whose name appeared on the cheque.
That single step changed everything.
Independent Verification Exposed the Fraud
The BC-based company’s accounting department confirmed the following:
- They never issued a cheque to my firm
- They never had any dealings with the Chinese company
- The cheque number was fraudulent
- A legitimate cheque they mailed to a real vendor had recently been intercepted and altered
- Someone had already attempted to cash a similar fraudulent cheque the previous Friday, which their bank flagged
- They immediately closed the compromised account
Most concerning of all, they told me that if I had not contacted them, they would not have discovered the source of the fraud until the following month when their actual vendor followed up about missing payment.
The Anatomy of the Scam
At that point, the pattern became clear.
This was not a casual scam. This was a sophisticated variation of the classic overpayment scam, adapted for corporate environments. It was structured, patient, and targeted by impersonating a real company, doing research on the industry (even providing well-supported engagement letters), build credibility over time by setting a strong professional communication and branding and detailed operational explanations.
Final Confirmation
To close the loop, I contacted the Chinese entity directly through publicly available corporate channels, not the email addresses used in our correspondence.
They confirmed:
- They have no employee by the name used in communications
- They are not setting up operations in Canada nor do they have any existing customers in Canada
- They did not engage my firm
Their corporate identity had been misappropriated.
What Protected My Firm
Most business owners do not walk around with a built-in “fraud radar,” and frankly, you should not have to. But experience teaches you to pay attention when something feels slightly off. You may not always be able to immediately identify a scam, but when a situation starts to smell fishy, that instinct matters. Pausing to take a few deliberate verification steps can be the difference between avoiding a costly mistake and learning an expensive lesson the hard way.
First, never trust incoming funds blindly, especially when paired with urgency to refund or wire money elsewhere. If this happens to you and you cash in a cheque from a customer/client, always wait until it clears. This scam is still working in progress. I have not received instructions to date on what to do with the excess funds I supposedly have in my corporate account.
Second, insist on meeting in person or through live video calls whenever possible. I recognize that when dealing with international clients, coordinating live or virtual meetings can sometimes be challenging due to time zones, language barriers, or operational constraints. That said, in hindsight, every request for a video meeting in this case was quietly avoided. When repeated attempts to connect face-to-face (even virtually) are sidestepped altogether, that alone should be treated as a serious warning sign.
Third, independently verify third parties using your own research, not the contact information provided by the sender. That means locating official company websites, publicly listed phone numbers, or corporate registry records on your own, and making direct contact through those channels. Do not rely on email addresses, phone numbers, or references supplied within the transaction itself. In this case, contacting the purported customer independently exposed the fraud immediately. Had I relied solely on the information provided by the scammer, the outcome could have been very different. Independent verification creates a critical separation between what you are being told and what is actually true.
Why I Am Sharing This
Not for sympathy.
Not for attention.
But because scams have evolved.
If you are reading this…
Scams may no longer arrive as obvious phishing emails.
Slow down.
Verify independently.
Never refund uncleared funds.
Trust your instincts when something feels off.
Stay vigilant.
