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Almost everyone has heard horror stories about individuals who
have been taken in by mass marketing fraud schemes—from phony sweepstakes to
lottery scams. But here’s something you may not know: the very same fraudsters
who target individual consumers also target businesses.
Illicit mass marketers know that the keepers of corporate funds
may be just as susceptible to fake ploys as anyone else. And while
business-oriented fraud usually results in losses of a few hundreds dollars the
first time a company is hit, employees may continue to fall victim to these
scams if the company has insufficient internal controls.
So what sort of mass marketing frauds are perpetrated against
businesses? Here are just a few examples of what might happen to your
companies:
- Masquerading as your usual office supplies provider, a fraudulent mass
marketer contacts your employees, offering products at reduced or current prices
in anticipation of impending rate increases. After paying the invoice, your
company never receives the supplies it purchased.
- Your organization is asked to buy ad space in a business directory. The
directory never sees the light of day, or only scammed companies like yours
receive a copy.
- Criminals send invoices for unordered or undelivered products showing
higher-than-agreed-upon prices, trying to exploit poor communication channels
that may exist in your company and hoping that phony invoices will be paid
without a second look.
- Your business receives an information packet offering to create and host
your website. The packet includes a card that must be returned in order to “opt
out” of the service, but the card is simply ignored or thrown out. Your company
is then billed for web services it never ordered.
- In a variation of the advance-fee
scheme that often targets individual consumers, perpetrators—usually
targeting small businesses—offer low interest loans in exchange for an advance
fee. You pay the fee, but your business never receives the loan.
While the FBI and other law enforcement agencies vigorously
investigate frauds of all kinds, there are steps your businesses can take to
protect themselves. For example:
- Educate yourself and your employees—especially frontline and accounts
payable and receivable personnel—about common fraud schemes;
- Always ask for offers in writing, and require a written contract or purchase
order for ANY transaction;
- Carefully review all invoices and compare them to expense records to make
sure they are legitimate (and keep all records!);
- Use a credit card for purchasing supplies and services (if the vendor fails
to deliver, you can dispute the charges);
- Don’t give out full names of employees, as fraudsters can obtain an
employee’s name and then later claim this individual authorized the purchase of
a product or service; and
- Be wary of accepting checks, because in some cases perpetrators have
conducted a series of smaller, legitimate transactions to enhance their
credibility and then used a counterfeit check to pay for a large
order.
If you suspect you’ve been scammed, file a complaint with the Federal Trade
Commission’s
Consumer Sentinel, a
database accessed by law enforcement agencies around the country. You can also
contact your local FBI
office.
For more advice on how to protect yourself and your companies from fraud,
visit our "Be Crime Smart"
website. |
