Help Me Hank: Help Me Hank! Office supply scam

All in days work here at 7NEWS, writers bustle in the newsroom, anchors and producers prepare for the next newscast. And behind the cameras maintenance keeps things working, while upstairs Carolyn keeps up on the station's expenses.

Carolyn Verdura, accounts payable
"We have a ton of bills."

Anything 7NEWS has to pay for, Carolyn okays the check.

Carolyn Verdura, accounts payable
"It could be sometimes a hundred bills a day."

She's been doing this for eight years, so when this bill for light bulbs came from New York City, she had some questions.

Carolyn Verdura, accounts payable
"I had a feeling there was something wrong with it."

The envelope had a Star Wars stamp on it, not metered postage. The invoice used a stick on label and the paper quality was bad.

Carolyn Verdura, accounts payable
"You kind of get a little leery. Where's this bill coming from? Who initiated it?"

The invoice said "attention maintenance," so she brought it to Mark, he's the guy who orders the bulbs. He knew it was an outrageous price, and he knew the "bill" was a fake! He'd never ordered such things. First he told Carolyn, and then he called Help Me Hank.

We recognized this right away, the old office supply scam. With copier toner, paper, all kinds of supplies, con artists target busy accounting departments with fraudulent invoices and inflated prices.

Hank Phillippi Ryan, 7NEWS Investigative Reporter
"So when you saw this what did you think?"

Mark Parker, maintenance
"Crazy. Crazy money."

They send what look like bills for toner, reams of paper, cleaning supplies. Bogus bills that often get paid because overworked and overwhelmed accountants just cut the checks and forget about it. The fine print does admit, "this is a solicitation." But scammers hope you never see that. Mark Parker, maintenance
"It could definitely get lost in all the traffic."

We called the number on the invoice and it was disconnected. We traced the address and it was a mailbox drop in midtown Manhattan. Dead-end. But yup, seems like this company was trying to pull one over on 7NEWS! It didn't work here, so don't let it work at your office.

Carolyn Verdura, accounts payable
"They tried but they didn't succeed so that's a good thing."

(Copyright (c) 2007 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)