The Lazy Man's Way to Riches
In an International Bogus Billing Scam, recently shut down by the FTC, a Canadian company showed again the lazy man's way to riches: send out invoices for services you didn't provide.
The bogus invoice scheme is a cut below the lawyer's perfect crime, as it allegedly relies upon the defendants cutting "ads from the publications and pasted them onto their own bogus invoices in an attempt to deceive consumers into paying the invoices."
Not a bad way to convice someone that they had placed the ad. Show them a legitimate ad that they did place.
The scheme, conducted in Ontario, started in 2001 and has lasted almost 5 years, without anyone knowing about it.
According to the temporary restraining order, here, several of the defendants were operating with aliases or fake names. No doubt also operating with disposable cell phones.
The Toronto Police arrested, in August of this year, one person, William George Fisk, in connection with this multi-million dollar scam. Mr. Fisk is alleged to have operated with numerous aliases.
The FTC alleges that defendants employed numerous different companies who sent these bogus invoices.
The scheme apparently worked because the defendants would send real ads to the business with annotations such "please review" or "please approve changes", with an invoice. The invoice would contain a contact number and reference. Nice touch.
When the business consumer tried to reach the directory company, they were never able to reach a live person and many simply paid the bill under the illusion that they had requested the ad.
In case this scenario seems far fetched to you, Kevin Mitnik outlined exactly how would could commit this fraud in his Art of Deception.
When the business consumer contacts their local BBB, the defendants readily admitted the mistake. No doubt improving their reputation with the BBB.
The invoices ranged from several hundred dollars to over $5,000. I would suspect that numerous of these small cheques were forged and resold to the fine gentlemen running the fake cashier cheque scams.
But why did it take five years for this scam to be uncovered? Any thoughts on that?
Technorati Tags: invoices, year one, temporary restraining order, ftc, billing scam, fake names, toronto police, disposable cell phones, lazy man, perfect crime, fisk, aliases, million dollar, invoice, one person, 5 years, no doubt, allegedly, lawyer
