Sydney reseller dodges $30k fraud

Sydney-based reseller IT Shopping narrowly avoided becoming a victim of a purchase order scam that could have cost $30,000 – and the owner is now sounding a warning for the channel.

The reseller, owned and run by Richard Embacher, received an email on 29 September from someone claiming to be a buyer for Macquarie University and requesting pricing and availability of three items: a Western Digital HDD My Passport Ultra 1TB, an HP 78 Tri-color original ink cartridge and a MacBook.

Several emails were exchanged with the would-be buyer specifying quantities, increasing to 180 Western Digital hard drives and 300 HP cartridges. More products were added to the quote, including 10 Microsoft Surface Pro 4 devices, five Cisco Catalyst 2960-X switches and five Cisco 2911 integrated services network routers.

The scammer even specified that these were for the university's Brisbane research lab.

Embacher, who has been in the industry for 20 years, asked the prospective customer about the payment method and was advised that upfront payment was not possible because IT Shopping was not an approved provider.

The director then requested a phone call, but the prospective buyer said he would get in touch. The next day, the reseller received an email saying the quote had been approved.

After unsuccessfully trying to call the number on the email signature, Embacher started researching this would-be buyer and found an announcement on the university's website advising about fraudulent purchase order activities. After that, Embacher started warning his distributor partners about the scam.

A spokesperson for Macquarie University told CRN: "The statement on the Macquarie University website serves as a cautionary notice to university suppliers, reminding them to be vigilant in checking the validity of order requests, rather than being a reference to a specific incident."

According to a report from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), small businesses reported $1.6 million in losses from scam activities in the first half of 2016. ACCC also announced that most of 2015 scams were aimed at small businesses involved false billing, overpayment and ransomware.