Phoenix Shield
Most supplier fraud doesn't happen at onboarding. It happens two years in, when a director quietly winds down the entity and starts again with fresh creditors. Phoenix Shield watches your entire supplier ledger for this pattern — automatically, every month.
The gap that one-time verification leaves open
You verify a supplier at onboarding. They pass. You pay them for two years without incident. Then the company quietly enters administration. The director is already trading again under a new name. Your accounts payable team has no idea.
One-time check: the blind spot
A supplier who verified clean at onboarding may have a director who wound down a previous company last month. Your records still show them as verified. Nobody re-ran the check.
The 36-month window
Phoenix operators typically deregister the old entity and begin trading under the new one within weeks. ASIC data contains every deregistration date — the pattern is visible if you look. Most teams never look again.
Subcontractor chains multiply exposure
In construction and labour hire, a single phoenix operator can sit two or three levels into your supply chain. The direct supplier looks fine. The company doing the actual work does not.
How Phoenix Shield works
Connect your supplier list
Add suppliers by ABN, business name, or bulk CSV upload. Phoenix Shield imports your existing vendor list in minutes. Existing Gumshoe verifications carry across automatically.
We re-verify every supplier, every month
On the first of each month, Phoenix Shield runs a full Gumshoe verification on every supplier in your list. Director names are pulled from ASIC Connect and cross-referenced against 3.49 million company records — including deregistration dates — within a 36-month window.
Instant alert when the pattern fires
If any supplier's director hits the PHOENIX_PATTERN flag — or any other critical risk flag — you receive an email alert immediately, with the previous company's name, the deregistration date, and the director link. Enterprise accounts also receive webhook push notifications for integration with procurement systems.
Audit-ready record of every check
Every monthly re-verification is timestamped and stored in your case history. If you're ever asked "when did you last verify this supplier?" — the answer is in your dashboard, with a full report attached.
Not just phoenix — the full risk picture
Phoenix Shield monitors for the PHOENIX_PATTERN flag and the full suite of director-level toxic combination signals that Gumshoe detects automatically.
Phoenix Pattern
Director of this entity also directed a company deregistered within the past 36 months. The canonical signal of illegal phoenix activity.
Government Adverse Record
Entity or director appears in ACCC, QBCC, NSW Fair Trading, VBA, or QLD OFT enforcement records — prosecutions, banning orders, or court actions.
Financial Adviser Ban
A director matches the ASIC Financial Adviser Register — 88,583 records, cross-referenced against ASIC's banned and disqualified persons register (7,153 entries).
Liquidator Linked
A director appears on the ASIC Liquidator Register. A liquidator directing or controlling an operating entity is a significant conflict-of-interest flag.
Licence Mismatch
Entity's industry classification requires a licence — building, electrical, plumbing, health — but no active licence appears in state registers. Risk of unregistered trading.
Adverse Pattern
Three or more medium-severity adverse records across 24 months, across multiple authorities. Suggests a systemic compliance problem, not an isolated incident.
Continuous monitoring for every tier
Phoenix Beacon is included in the Individual plan at A$10/month — monitor up to 10 suppliers. Upgrade to Enterprise for unlimited continuous monitoring with the full Phoenix Shield feature set.
Keep watch over your 10 most critical suppliers — automatically, every month.
- ✓ Phoenix Beacon — monitor up to 10 suppliers
- ✓ Monthly re-verification on each monitored entity
- ✓ PHOENIX_PATTERN email alerts
- ✓ Adverse record monitoring
- ✓ 30 Phone Verify checks/month
- ✓ 30 Street View checks/month
- ✓ Unlimited email reports
Unlimited suppliers, full toxic combination suite, Phoenix Shield monitoring, API access and white-label reporting.
- ✓ Everything in Individual ($10/mo)
- ✓ Phoenix Shield — continuous monthly re-verification
- ✓ Unlimited suppliers monitored
- ✓ PHOENIX_PATTERN alerts
- ✓ Adverse record monitoring (5 authorities)
- ✓ ASIC director cross-reference (3.49M records)
- ✓ PPSR encumbrance monitoring coming soon
- ✓ White-label PDF report export
- ✓ REST API & webhooks
- ✓ Named account contact
Prices in AUD exclusive of GST. Cancel anytime.
Phoenix Beacon
Not every business needs to watch 500 suppliers. Phoenix Beacon is the Individual-tier version of Phoenix Shield — built for sole traders, freelancers, and small teams who have a core group of suppliers they rely on and can't afford to be caught out by a phoenix operator.
Pick up to 10 suppliers from your verified list and Beacon monitors them automatically each month. If any director triggers the PHOENIX_PATTERN flag — or any other critical risk signal — you get the same email alert as an Enterprise user. The difference is scale, not signal quality.
Built on authoritative public data
3.49 million companies including deregistration dates, updated weekly from the official ASIC bulk extract.
Director and secretary names pulled live from ASIC Connect on each verification. Cached for 30 days per entity.
88,548 adviser records including 711 banned and disqualified individuals. Updated weekly.
668 registered liquidators cross-referenced against entity director names on every verification.
92 active records across ACCC, QBCC, NSW Fair Trading, VBA and QLD OFT enforcement databases.
196,000+ building and trades licences from QBCC with NSW, VIC and SA registers in progress.
Common questions
What is the phoenix pattern exactly?
The phoenix pattern occurs when a director winds down or allows a company to fail — leaving creditors, employees, or the ATO unpaid — and then begins trading again under a new entity. Gumshoe flags this when a director of the entity you're verifying also appears as a director of a company that was deregistered within the past 36 months.
Is phoenix activity always illegal?
No. Legitimate business restructuring — where assets are transferred at fair market value and creditor obligations are met — is legal. The illegal form involves deliberate asset stripping, failure to meet director obligations, and the intent to avoid paying creditors. Gumshoe surfaces the pattern; we don't make the legal determination. The flag is a prompt to ask harder questions before extending credit.
How do you get director names from ASIC Connect?
ASIC publishes a public register of company officeholders accessible via their ASIC Connect portal. Our system queries this on each verification and caches the result for 30 days. Director names are normalised for fuzzy matching against our company records database.
How many suppliers can I monitor?
With Phoenix Beacon (Individual plan, A$10/month) you can monitor up to 10 suppliers. With Phoenix Shield (Enterprise plan, A$200/month) there is no limit. You can add and remove suppliers from your monitored ledger at any time from the dashboard.
What happens when Phoenix Shield detects a flag?
You receive an email alert immediately, containing the supplier's name and ABN, the specific flag that fired, and the supporting detail — for a phoenix flag, this includes the previous company's name and deregistration date. Enterprise accounts can also configure webhook notifications for integration with procurement or ERP systems.
Can I use this as evidence for an ASIC report?
Yes. The timestamped verification report and flag detail can be included in an ASIC report of a breach. We recommend engaging your legal counsel before making any formal report. Our reports document what the data shows — they do not make allegations.
Start protecting your supplier ledger
Add your first supplier and run a free verification in under 30 seconds. Phoenix Shield monitoring starts from A$30/month when you're ready.