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In these scams, the fraudsters are simply playing the percentages.
The con artists mass-mail documents which appear to be legitimate invoices to businesses. Often smaller firms, where accounts payable controls may be substandard, are targeted and mailings are timed to arrive during rush periods--such as holiday seasons; or during the summer months when regular accounts payable employees may be on vacation. The documents, however, are not, in fact, legitimate invoices, but disguised orders for questionable goods or services.
Because of the appearance of these documents, many businesses simply remit the payment, thus placing a prepaid order for some product or service--usually an inferior product or worthless service.
Some businesses are so excessively automated--or so poorly controlled--that this scam remains popular and successful. It is, of course, illegal:
Title 39, United States Code, Section 3001, makes it illegal to mail a solicitation in the form of an invoice, bill, or statement of account due unless it conspicuously bears a notice on its face that it is, in fact, merely a solicitation. This disclaimer must be in very large (at least 30-point) type and must be in boldface capital letters in a color that contrasts prominently with the background against which it appears.
The disclaimer must not be modified, qualified, or explained, such as with the phrase "Legal notice required by law." It must be the one prescribed in the statute, or alternatively, the following notice prescribed by the U.S. Postal Service: THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS A SOLICITATION. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THE AMOUNT STATED ABOVE UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER.
A solicitation whose appearance does not conform to the requirements of Title 39, United States Code, Section 3001, constitutes prima facie evidence of violation of the federal False Representation Statute (Title 39, United States Code, Section 3005). Therefore, solicitations in the form of invoices, bills, or statements of account due which do not contain the large and conspicuous disclaimer required by the law will not be carried or delivered by mail if they come to the attention of the Postal Service, and will be disposed of as the Postal Service shall direct.
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