There is an office scam going around that is older than your secretary may well be. Strange how those classics stick around, isn’t it? Well knowledge is the best defense against these crooks who try to get their food in the door. If your secretary knows the spiel and what they are after, the full process of how toner phoners work, then he or she will know exactly how to shut them out and keep your information, and your finances, safe from this half-baked thirty year old intrusion scam. So, let’s go and learn a little more about how toner phoners work.
The scam operates with an unsolicited call from a very professional sounding person with a script designed to pry a few pieces of information out of your secretary. Obviously they get your phone number and address from the internet or phone book. But next they need to secure what type of toner cartridge your office uses, or the type of printer from which they can infer the cartridge type, and the name of an ordering manager. It doesn’t matter a bit whether you use Xerox toner or Lexmark, they just need the info. One chief script you will hear involves the scammers pretending to take a survey about office ink and toner usage. Another comes from someone pretending to belong to part of the company or group of companies who sells you your printers, often about repair schedules, a mix up somewhere in their paperwork, or a customer satisfaction report. Your secretary has better things to do than work on a phone survey anyway, and a quick inquiry into which organization the caller is working for should send the caller reeling. It is also one very good reason to have your secretary own your list of suppliers by memory so that she or he can sniff out any interlopers as they try to penetrate your information privacy.
But what do these toner phoners do when they get your information—if whoever answered your phones was unwary? Well they send you a little gift. Usually a few packs of the appropriate toner for your laserjet printers. Naturally in a busy environment these toners are simply sent down to the printers and used, and that’s when the scammers think they have you. A month or two after the toner is received the toner phoners send you an invoice marked with the type of toner, the number of cartridges sent, and the ordering manager. Since you used the cartridges and everything looks official and in order, many people think that they need to pay this bill. Essentially the phoners muscle their way into a position as your toner supplier without ever asking, especially as most will continue to send you toner packs after the first one. And after a while of receiving and using your unsolicited HP 1320 toner, and giving into paying them for it, the toners starting making some big money. Did I mention that their prices are half again more than what they should be?
If you have gotten to the point where they are sending you product, or even to the point where you are paying them regularly, there is an easy solution. Stop paying them. The federal government has declared that any and all unsolicited merchandise can be considered a gift and absolutely no repayment is necessary. Of course when they don’t receive their payment they will start raising a ruckus. Basically after the sneaky approach fails the scammers turn to threats and angry calls hoping to turn a soft hearted employee and convince them to buy out. They can also use a pestering g approach where they call different numbers and send mail repeatedly hoping to wear out the opposition and get paid off. Eventually though they will run out of patience and see that your account has lost its worth to them.
You should also be aware of a similar scam known as the free sample approach. In this approach the caller is advertising free samples of a new and improved toner type, you only need to report your results. After this arrangement is accepted they send their package with fine print located either on the box or in the instructions. There is always a hook. Either you need to return something within the right period or not open a certain box, your even they can go as ridiculous as to say that if you use your free sample and don’t return it unused in fifty days they bill you for an extortionate amount. Always say no; always keep your information and your phone lines safe from toner scammers. And always invest in a quality ink and toner provider (see links above).