Avoiding Office Supply Scams

http://www.linkedin.com/in/lightningdeals

by: Eddie Sanchez, Director of Information Services and Advertisement Review

Everyday, many businesses, churches, and fraternal and charitable organizations are bilked out of millions of dollars by bogus office supply firms. Could your company be the victim of an office supply scam? If you don't have adequate purchasing controls, probably so, buy you can protect yourself by learning to recognize the scams and understanding your rights.

The typical officesupply scam involves goods or services that you routinely order: copier paper, toner and maintenance supplies, equipment maintenance contracts, or classified advertising.

Office supply scam artists generally use three ways to take your money:

1. Phony-Invoice scams-  the goal of the phony-invoice scam is to get the name and address of an employee, so your organization can be shipped and billed for unordered goods or services. The invoice includes the employee's name as the "authorized" buyer. Once the con artist has an employee's name and address, he'll ship unordered merchandise.
2. The pretender Scam- The caller may pretend to be your regular or previous supplier, a replacement, or an "authorized" supplier. By convincing you the goods or services and prices offered are the same as before, the caller hopes you won't bring up prices, quantities, and brands. Even if you do, the seller may tory to brush you off by saying, "We've supplied you in the past, but it's been a while," or" The price is the same as last time."
3. The gift-Horse scam- The caller tries to create mistrust within an organization. The scheme starts when the caller tricks an employee into accepting a gift or a free promotional item with a passing reference to merchandise or services. You receive overpriced  unorded merchandise, followed by an invoice with the employee's name. When the organization questions the employee, the fraudulent seller is betting the employee will be nervous about the gift  when he denies placing the order. The hope is the organization will doubt the employee. When this scheme works, the organization believes the employee blundered into ordering something that must be paid for.  Scam artists spend significant time and energy on collection efforts. They send as many invoices as it takes to get your money. Invoice often are stamped "Past Due." In extreme cases, they'll resort to real or bogus collection agencies and threats of legal action. When organizations complain they didn't order the merchandise or services or that the price is to high, the scam seller reacts in some predictable ways:

• Bullying- the seller argues if you express any uncertainty about wether the supplies or services were ever ordered: "They were ordered. We have a recording of Mr. Jones. If you don't pay, we can take you to court."
• Negotiating- Here, the seller agrees to accept a lower price. After all, the goods and services are grossly overpriced that almost anything the seller gets is profit.
• Charging for returned merchandise- The seller claims you can return merchandise if you pay a "restocking fee." In fact, the fee is often more than the goods are worth.

Protect your organization
You can protect your organization from paying for unordered goods and services. Here is how:

1. Know your rights. If you receive supplies or bills for services you didn't order, don't pay, and don't return the unordered merchandise.
2. Assign designated buyers and documen your purchases. The buyer should send a copy of every purchase order to you accounts payable department.
3. Check your documentation before paying bills.
4. Train your staff. Train eveyone in how to respond to telemarketers. Buy from people you know and trust.
   Report office supply scams to the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General's office. You may want to share your experiences with other businesses to help them avoid a rip-off

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1. We are a family owned company in the Houston area and we sell tons of items online either thru our website (www.lightning-deals.com) or in ebayhttp://stores.ebay.com/lightning-deals and we give the option to save you money by arranging to have the items you purchase picked up from us. Always be in the look out specially right now that the holidays are approaching and are many con artist out there. We provide a phone also to be able to talk to us personally. Thank you for your input

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