Toner News Mobile › Forums › Latest Industry News › *NEWS*TONER PIRATES TARGET BUSS/CHURCHES
- This topic has 0 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 9 years, 8 months ago by Anonymous.
-
AuthorPosts
-
AnonymousInactive‘Toner pirates’ target businesses, churches
PAYSON ROUND UP ARIZONA
May
2007 Copier owners beware. A fraudulent company may be targeting local
charitable organizations and businesses seeking exaggerated payments
for office products.”Toner pirates,” as they are referred by members of
the copier industry, call businesses, churches and charitable
organizations looking for information so that they can send a phony
bill or make an overpriced transaction with an unwitting volunteer or
employee.Brent Lakatos, co-owner of Beeline Business Equipment first
realized there was a scheme going on in Payson when his clients called,
inquiring about a $500 bill for toner from a company with a similar
name to his.”Someone called me and asked why I charged them $500 for
toner,” he said. “It wasn’t my company, though. They’ll use two words
from a real company’s name and change the third, so it looks like a
real business,” Lakatos said.Lakatos said he has seen invoices that
were sent to his clients with a name meant to purposely be mistaken for
his business’ name. The invoices look authentic and so volunteers or
new employees often submit the bill to be paid, or even pay the bill,
never realizing that it is completely fake.The company will often send
past-due invoices, hoping that an unwitting employee will rush into
payment because the bill is deemed “late.”Another tactic the “toner
pirates” use is calling organizations with a lot of employee turnover
or volunteer employees and seek out office equipment model numbers or
the name of a purchasing agent so that they can send a bill that has
the correct information on it, increasing the chances that it will
mistakenly gets paid.”Never give out any information, unless you’re
completely sure to whom you’re speaking,” Lakatos said.The toner
pirates often send products, even though they are generic and are many
times much smaller than they should be, Lakatos said.”There is no
technical fraud,” Lakatos said. “If a business receives a product,
there’s nothing anyone can do.”Lakatos said fraudulent companies
usually target larger cities, but have hit smaller towns like Payson
about every six months. Their success can mainly be attributed to the
lack of information that new employees or volunteers have.”No bottle of
toner will ever cost more than $125,” Lakatos said. “There isn’t one
out there. Some color cartridges are a little more, but will never be
more than $225.”Lakatos said business owners should pay attention to
who is requesting information and not to give out model numbers for fax
machines and copiers or names of office employees, if there is a
question about who is asking for the information.”They’ll sound
professional and they’ll use the name of a manager or president and
call different branches,” Lakatos said. “They will sometimes get angry
or rude over the phone, if they are not given the information they are
seeking.”Lakatos said that local churches have been hit recently, as
well as charitable organizations. -
AuthorMay 3, 2007 at 11:44 AM
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.