PHOENIX — Arizona is seeing an increase in business-supply scams, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Hustlers are sending business owners fraudulent invoices for goods or services, such as office supplies, directory listings and compliance services. The scam depends on business owners paying the invoices without first verifying whether they’re legitimate.
“This is something that’s been going on for years. It will kind of die down, then pop back up again,” said department spokeswoman Kristen Keogh.
“This has come back on our radar. It seems like something people will continually fall for,” she said.
The Attorney General’s Office issued a warning about the scam last week following an increase in consumer complaints, Keogh said.
However, she declined to provide the number of complaints or other details.
“Generally, we do not give numbers for specific complaints. It just can be sensitive information,” she said.
Arizona Small Business Association executives also noticed a surge in the fake-invoice ploy and sent a warning to their roughly 10,000 members last week, Chief Executive Officer Rick Murray said.
“These are cyclical in nature. This is just one many that makes its rounds to small business owners,” he said.
The tactic re-emerges every year or 1½ years, he said. Often, the invoices are for relatively small amounts of money, allegedly for office paper, copy machine ink and other common office supplies.
“A lot of small businesses will get a couple dozen invoices here and there. A lot of times they end up paying them, not knowing they’re not from their supplier, because everyone uses those types of toner cartridges,” Murray said.
Part of the reason the swindle works is because con artists usually issue phony bills for relatively small amounts of money, he said.
“If these invoices were for hundreds and hundreds of dollars, or thousands of dollars, then there would be a lot more scrutiny. But because they fly below the radar, that’s really the sweet spot for these scammers. If they can get one out of 10, that’s a good take for them,” Murray said.
