If you haven’t heard about Toner Pirates consider yourself lucky. If you have, it may be because you fell victim to them. Unfortunately we are hearing about these crimes more frequently from customers. According to the National Office Products Association more than $50 million every year is pirated from innocent customers.
What is a toner pirate? A Toner Pirate is a scam artist. They call legitimate businesses like yours and attempt to trick you into buying copier and printer toner supplies. Sometimes they will try to mislead you into thinking you’re dealing with your local copier company. Toner Pirates will call several times attempting to gather bits of information each time. By their final call they will have all the information needed to get you to order supplies from them. Unfortunately, the toner you receive will be extremely overpriced and of poor quality. For those who are not familiar with ordering supplies may find these calls innocent.
Advanced Copy Technologies labels all of our customers’ copiers with an equipment ID tag. These ID numbers are only used by our company. The equipment ID allows us to know everything about the machine; the model, the serial number and the location. Therefore, we will never have to ask you for that information. Also, Advanced Copy will never call you to sell you toner or supplies. If you do receive a call like this ask the caller for their name and phone number and if you can give them a call back. Then call Advanced Copy at 860-632-9294 and ask if it was a legitimate call, chances are it wasn’t.
How to Avoid Becoming a Victim
- Have specific individual(s) responsible for ordering supplies
- Train all employees who answer the phone
- Do not give equipment information, like make, model or serial numbers, over the phone.
- Be wary of callers who claim to be from your copier supplier but use high-pressure sales tactics or offer “last chance” deals.
- Issue a written purchase order with authorized signature and purchase order number
- Instruct supplier to put purchase order number on its invoices.
- Do not pay bills unless they match your documentation
- Do not pay for / or return unordered merchandise
- Report suspected toner pirates to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by calling 1.877.FTCHELP (1-877-382-4357), or by filling out an online complaint form at www.ftc.gov.