Scam Involving Toronto “Marketing Company” Going Around

The CEO of a sign company among the Signs of the Times readership wanted to alert everyone to a major scam going around right now that impacted that CEO’s company on Aug. 26 as well as another company.

“A ‘marketing company’ out of Toronto asked for a proposal for their client for QTY 6 Fleet Vehicle Wraps,” the CEO reports. “We sent them a proposal for $34K, and they paid us $44K [on Aug. 26], in full, and asked for the overpayment to be sent back.”

The money paid to the CEO’s sign company came from another company’s account illegally and will be returned, “but we will be out over $1,000 in credit card processing fees,” the CEO says. “Luckily, our system bills through Quickbooks, and our account info was not shared with the criminals. Others might not be so lucky.”

The CEO says they haven’t seen a scam like this in 20 years. “I wanted to alert you all so you can get a message out hopefully to alert sign industry folks and partners that this scam is happening now and they are targeting our industry,” the affected sign company CEO says.