Iowa State University Purchasing - Home: Scams/Buyer Alerts

Online Directory Scam - Wall Street Worldwide
(February 1, 2007)

A company has recently contacted departments at Iowa State referring to themselves as Wall Street Worldwide. They claim to publish ISU data on an online directory. They may contact you or just send an invoice. Send all invoices and refer all correspondence to Cory Harms in purchasing.

Business Directory Scam - National Business Directory (January 22, 2007)

A company has recently contacted departments at Iowa State referring to themselves as National Business Directory. They refer to a business directory that the department or ISU will be mentioned in and may or may not ask if you wish to be in it. Either way, they send an invoice and shortly after the directory. If you receive directories from this vendor, refuse the shipment and send all invoices to Cory Harms in purchasing. If you receive one of these calls, please forward the call to Cory Harms in purchasing at 294-2591, if possible.

Fax Toner Scam - Advanced Imaging Systems
(January 22, 2007)

A company calling themselves "Advanced Imaging Systems" or ATS has recently contacted departments at Iowa State inquiring as to the model number of your fax machine or printer. They usually try to sell you discount toners or offer free toners or overstocked toners and then bill at a highly inflated price. Please forward these calls to Cory Harms in purchasing at 294-2591, if possible.

Business Directory Scam - Datadirect (August 18, 2005)

A company has recently contacted departments at Iowa State referring to themselves as datadirect. They refer to a business directory that the department or ISU will be mentioned in and may or may not ask if you wish to be in it. Either way, they send an invoice and shortly after the directory. If you receive directories from this vendor, refuse the shipment and send all invoices to Cory Harms in Purchasing. If you receive one of these calls, please forward the call to Cory Harms in Purchasing at 294-2591, if possible.

Fax Toner Scam (February 16, 2005)

A company has recently contacted departments at Iowa State inquiring as to the model number of your fax machine or printer. They usually try to sell you discount toners or offer free toners or overstocked toners and then bill you at five time our Central Stores price. Please forward these calls to Cory Harms in Purchasing at 294-2591, if possible.

Bank Scam - Bank North (February 16, 2005)

We have had reports from university employees that they are receiving requests via email that appear to come from various banks, most recently Banknorth. The email claims that the recipient's accounts have been blocked or need to be updated and asks the recipient to enter his or her account number and other personal information. These are fraudulent emails and do not come from the bank. Do not reply to these emails under any circumstances and furthermore, do not click on any links in these emails. If you receive a request like this via email or telephone, you should not respond. Contact Cory Harms in Purchasing if you suspect any phone call or e-mail of being a scam.

Business Directory Scam- UPA (January 31, 2005)

A company called United Publishers of America has recently called departments for inclusion in their "Regional Business Directory." Departments providing information to the caller are then sent an invoice for the directory. Please refer all of these calls to Cory Harms in purchasing at 294-2591.

Business Directory Scam - Centralcom (January 5, 2005)

A company called Centralcom has recently contacted departments to inform them that they will be invoiced for an edition of a business-to-business directory. The caller may claim to have a cancellation for some, but not all, of the editions of the directory, and that a final invoice will be sent. Please refer all of these calls Cory Harms in purchasing at 294-2591.

E-bay Scam (September 9, 2004)

There have been recurring e-mails to campus users from scam operations that look like they are being generated from E-bay. They usually look something like the following:

Dear eBay customer,

During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, we have detected a slight error in your billing information.

This might be due to either of the following reasons:

1. A recent change in your personal information ( i.e.change of address).
2. Submitting invalid information during the initial sign up process.
3. An inability to accurately verify your selected option of payment due to an internal error within our processors.

Please update and verify your information by clicking the link below:
https://arribada.ebay.com/saw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?PlaceCCInfo

If your account information is not updated within 48 hours then your ability to sell or bid on eBay will become restricted.

Thank you

The eBay Billing Department .

These messages are scams.

E-bay will not contact you directly for sign in, credit card or other information in an e-mail. Please ignore and delete these messages or forward them to spoof@ebay.com.

Fax Toner Scam - The Corporate Warehouse

(August 5, 2004)

A company has recently contacted departments at Iowa State calling themselves " The Corporate Warehouse". They may even have knowledge of your department fax number. They may say that " there has been a mix up in their shipping department and the boss wanted him to call and find out the name of the person that ordered the supplies " Please refer all of these calls Cory Harms in Purchasing at 294-2591.

Fax Toner Scam - Imaging Express (July 9, 2004)

A company has recently contacted departments at Iowa State calling themselves Imaging Express and inquiring as to the model number of your fax machine. They may say that " their "card" with the number had been rained on and it wasn't legible" and that they want to confirm the model number They usually get the information and then ship toners to the department at an inflated price referencing the ISU contact as the ordering party. Please do not give them any information and refer all of these calls to Cory Harms in Purchasing at 294-2591.

Fax Toner e-mail Scam (GT Toner Supplies) (March 14, 2004)

There is a firm that is e-mailing departments with the "from line" appearing as if it comes from the Purchasing Department. The vendor we have seen is GT Toner Supplies, but may also use other names to solicit sales from departments. These e-mails try to appear as if Purchasing is endorsing the vendor, which we are not. Please do not purchase anything through this vendor and forward all calls, letters or invoices from them to Cory Harms in Purchasing.

Paypal Scam (March 14, 2004)

There is a message being e-mailed to people on campus appearing to be from Paypal. The e-mail says they need to update their account or their account will be suspended. When you go to the site they usually ask you to re-enter your credit card information to update your account. This is a known repeating scam. Please do not respond to these e-mails or visit the site links in them.

Business Directory Scam (March 4, 2004)

There are companies that have been calling University departments and saying they have verbal approval to list the "firm" in their business directory. They further say they are sending an invoice (usually around $400.00) and upon payment we will receive a letter of closure. Some firms even send a CD of the directory with a letter or invoice. Please refer all of these calls, letters or invoices to Cory Harms in Purchasing at 294-2591.

Fax Toner Scam - Digital Imaging (September 9, 2003)

A company has recently contacted departments at Iowa State calling themselves Digital Imaging and inquiring as to the model number of your fax machine. They may say that a " department near your office recently ordered some toners and discovered are the wrong kind and we now have an overstock and would like to ship them to you at a discount" The discount is usually five time our Central Stores price. Please refer all of these calls to Cory Harms in Purchasing at 294-2591.

Best Buy Scam (July 29, 2003)

There is a scam going around claiming to be from Best Buy. If you receive an "order fraud alert" that claims to be from Best Buy, DO NOT respond to it. This scam was used in Wyoming claiming that an order was placed using the credit card information of the e-mail recipient at Best Buy's website.

The e-mail requests that the recipient visit a "Fraud Department" web site to confirm the transaction by providing the correct financial information. The site is not legitimate and is used to gain access to the recipient's card.

Please contact Purchasing immediately if you are contacted by this scam or anything similar in fashion.

Cleaning Paper Scam (July 29, 2003)

A new telemarketing scheme has surface where the company is trying to sell special paper to run through your printers to keep them operating properly. Do not accept sample orders, trial copies or anything from firms trying to sell or get you to use this paper. The companies operating the scam will not provide samples, e-mail addresses, marketing brochures, address, etc. If you request these types of information, the caller will most likely hang up.

One company may be called Verizon labs or something similar.