BuyerZone Investigates Copier Scams in the News

The latest scams and how to avoid them

Written by: BuyerZone Staff

Here at BuyerZone, we think a scam created by an office supplies dealer really brings new meaning to the phrase “white collar criminal.” Routinely purchased business products such as office supplies and copier equipment have historically been a simple way for scam artists to con money out of large and small businesses.

In early October of this year, a North Carolina man was sentenced to over two years in federal prison for committing wire fraud with customers of his two office supply and copier companies. His clients were unaware of his fraudulent actions because he was engaging in a small-time Ponzi scheme with his copier lease contracts.

An older but still prevalent scam involves shady selling practices in which the office will receive a package of toner, an invoice filled with bogus charges and no contact information, and inevitably, phone calls from a collection agency after your office refuses to pay for those bogus charges.

The gift-horse scam usually arrives in the form of a phone call to an employee about a free promotional item. The item arrives in the mail along with an invoice for additional merchandise. The scammer is hoping that the organization will confront the employee about the invoice and the employee will deny ever accepting a gift, forcing the organization to pay for the services which it assumes were ordered by mistake.

It can be difficult to protect your business from fraudulent sales efforts and blatant scams when you don't trust who you're dealing with. Stay up to date on the latest business scams by visiting the Federal Trade Commission website at FTC.gov, where you can also report suspected fraudulent business acts directly on the site.

Sources: WRAL.com, FTC.gov

This article was a guest post by editorial staff at BuyerZone.com. Find out why 8,500 companies across the United States are using BuyerZone B2B lead generation programs to find ready-to-buy customers.

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