Recognizing and Preventing Office Supply Scams

Scams can take many forms. Office supply scams often target small businesses and nonprofits by creating confusion over product invoices and goods, costing U.S. organizations more than $200 million a year. Scammers attempt to manipulate employees to make the organization pay for supplies that have not been ordered or pay more than the products are worth.

Be wary of callers

Office supply scams typically start when someone calls your business to obtain your street address and the name of an employee. Having an employee’s name will lend legitimacy to bogus invoices or shoddy products the perpetrator is preparing to send your company.

One common scam involves shipping low-quality products and then following up a week or two later with a pricey invoice. The delay is intentional: The perpetrator expects that you won’t notice the final price is much higher than you’d pay for better quality products from a legitimate supplier. The con artist also hopes that you’ll have used some of the products and feel obligated to pay for them.

Refuse gift horses

Sometimes, thieves don’t bother shipping products. They simply send phony invoices timed to arrive when you would normally receive a bill for an actual purchase. Others call and offer to send a promotional item such as a coffee mug. Before they hang up, however, they mention in passing that they’re going to throw some ink cartridges in with the coffee mug. What they don’t mention is that they’ll also throw in a bill for the ink.

This “gift horse” fraud is designed to pit owners against employees. When you receive a bill with an employee’s name on it, you question the employee. The scammer is hoping the employee will be so nervous about accepting the promotional item that you’ll believe he or she mistakenly ordered the additional merchandise.

Establish procedures

The best way to stop office supply scams is to prevent them from starting. Begin by telling employees to refer all telemarketing calls to one or two designated buyers.

Require these buyers to follow established approval procedures. For example, when buyers make purchases, they should forward copies of their orders to accounts payable. Also, they should tell vendors to include your company’s purchase order numbers on their shipment documents. When merchandise arrives, it needs to be inspected and verified.

Shop smart

Even though scammers are adept are convincing people otherwise, it’s important to remember that your company isn’t legally obligated to pay for anything it receives that it didn’t order. For more information or tips on preventing office supply scams, call us at 949-860-9902 or click here to contact us.

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