Tag: fraud

Whether it’s a shell company that wants to buy several loads of whatever with intentions to vanish shortly after the purchases, or one person that’s fraudulently impersonating another or a company, it can take time to effectively vet new prospective customers, and the numbers say so.

Blue Book has received a report from a targeted seller of an individual impersonating a Blue Book-listed buyer company located in the Northeast region of the United States.

Does a challenging or moderately challenging onboarding process correlate with extremely to moderately effective screening procedures?

While fraud has been a part of the produce industry for decades, Blue Book Services has seen a noticeable spike in fraudulent activity in recent years.

The USDA Agricultural Market Service’s Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act Division (PACA) has received information that various entities and individuals may be falsely representing themselves as current PACA licensees and legitimate purchasers in the industry – ordering produce, arranging its pick-up and transport, and not paying for that produce.

Blue Book has received reports of unauthorized individuals impersonating buyer companies to purchase product. These impersonators have initiated communication via email, but methods may evolve.

ZAG Technical Services is alerting agriculture businesses to a rise in sophisticated phishing schemes aimed at compromising email accounts and gaining access to sensitive information. As these threats become more prevalent, it is crucial for companies to stay vigilant and adopt best practices to protect themselves.

Impersonation fraud has already been in the produce industry, but now we’re getting more reports from members who share their victim experiences to get the word out so others won’t fall prey to the same fraudulent acts.

The Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has become aware of a scam involving disguised or “spoofed” email addresses.

Pamela calls in from Bavaria, where she checks out the retail trends in Europe. News slows down around the holidays but Greg says a federal indictment for produce inspection fraud spiced things up.