Fake email invoice scams.

[HOTFR8]

Any one in Australia should be made aware of this at present specially if you use BOC as a gas supplier for welding materials etc.

I got a fake bill from http://www.fdpi.com.au/ this company the other day and then found after doing some research they had some very informative information on the web site.

BOC Australia (http://www.boc.com.au/) now have the same issue with an invoice being emailed out if you have received any of these do a virus check straight away. I have not found any information on the BOC site but to get 5 emailed invoices from them all with the same information when I do not use them is very suspect and to get a virus warning with them sends out alarms.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... Scams ****, no matter where ya are on the planet,....

Newest craigslist thing seems to be textin' my phone, 'n askin' for an email answer to questions that are answered in the ads I write,....

I've been textin' back, "call no text"
So far, it ends there, 'n my email accounts haven't been flooded with spam,....

 

[HOTFR8]

Some of these scams are getting very clever. Fact is many I do not deal with and I feel sorry for some one that may deal with say BOC on a daily basis to be ripped off for $1000's on a fake bill.

At least FDPI did the right thing and have a message on the home page with a warning.
Fake billing would hit a small company like FDPI very hard.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I got a better one ! I was supposed to get a REFUND from an overcharge on eBay. Just log into "PayPal", a fake one where they would grab your email and password.

 

[retfr8flyr]

There are several Paypal scams out now. One is, as stated, the refund, there is another I get all the time about my account is going to be cancelled and I need to verify everything. I never used to get all the scams, I would sure like to know which online vendor I used, that sells their email lists to these scammers.

 

[HOTFR8]

The link makes for interesting reading.
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/news/invoice-email-scam-now-targeting-australian-businesses

 

[gungatim]

I'm surprised so many people get scammed and not more businesses. I worked as a buyer in the office of a small company once that never checked invoices...just paid them...always figured it would be super easy for someone to send out fake invoices to smaller company's that don't have sophisticated systems/resources to validate...then I got a call from a supplier.

this chemical company was peddling insanely overpriced oil, lube, coolant, etc. saying my predecessor always ordered them and he was sending more. I was new so just assumed, checked history, yep valid suppler, history of purchase.

next time he called I checked with the maintenance supervisor and he said he had like 10 5-gallon pails of some penetrating oil he never uses, why do we keep buying? turns out these shady company's send lots of freebies to the buyers if they don't bother checking...he wanted to give me nascar tickets, jackets, chairs, whatever I wanted...I promptly returned the unused product and red-flagged them...apparently that went on for over a decade...

so even if the invoices are real, they could be for exaggerated pricing on commodity products that can go unnoticed...pretty good scam...

 

[engineer2]

Our company learned the hard way that if the invoice attachment is a zip file, immediately delete it, no matter what. It looked real from a legitimate supplier, but it was the cryptolocker. Thankfully everything was backed up.

 

[pi_guy]

My welding supplier is in Westbury LI and a few scammers have used his company name with different address in Westbury and phone number with westbury exchange 334. So then the company calls him with why have you not paid the invoice. I did not buy it and if you look at address you did not ship it to me. They have been in business over 50 years.
I get call from the IRS regularly, you play with them a bit not understanding what they are saying. Since we regularly get audited I know they do not call even if caller id says IRS.

 

[HOTFR8]

Our company learned the hard way that if the invoice attachment is a zip file, immediately delete it, no matter what. It looked real from a legitimate supplier, but it was the cryptolocker. Thankfully everything was backed up.

The Zip files are the catch and you need to have anti virus programs up to date. Mind you I am very wary of emails from places I do not deal with like BOC Gasses and the company I posted the link to FDPI.