r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Buinea_Pird • Sep 14 '26
Do u dont wanna This "invoice", with a small print disclaimer stating it is not an invoice, received by my company
1.1k
u/PrimaryThis9900 Sep 14 '26
I work as a controller for a small company. A big part of what I did when I first started was establish processes to catch and avoid these kinds of things. We have caught dozens just this year.
Our biggest one is that if somebody wants to use a new vendor there is a whole process for setup. They complain about how tedious it is, but it keeps something like this from slipping through the cracks.
245
u/m007368 Sep 14 '26
I hate the new vendor process especially for one off jobs. But as an owner I 1000% am concerned about scams. If you get fucked as a business thats your fault. No one cares but the people affected in the biz.
Too many scam artists in the world.
39
u/gans42 Sep 14 '26
I work in distribution and customers get annoyed at how hard it is to set up an account. They want it easy like Amazon. There's a reason these things are qualified.
20
11
u/bluebear_74 Sep 15 '26
My work does similar and all our suppliers need to be entered into the system. All orders need to go through a purchase order system, which then get matched to any invoices coming in, deliveries are also checked off by forklift drivers to make sure deliveries are delivered in full.
17
u/RottingLactoseTower Sep 15 '26
I work for a large company and now I understand why we have a list of approved vendors and why it’s so difficult to purchase elsewhere.
3
u/DutchOvenCamper Sep 15 '26
SO much inconvenience and cost in your life is due to criminals. :( Estimates are that you spend $3-6 per $100 at stores to cover theft losses and theft-prevention measures. So there's several hundred dollars per year you could spend on ... milk. (Rottinglactosetower is quite the unique user name!) And that's just retail theft. Whenever I encounter bizarre rules nowadays, my first thought is, "Wow, I wonder what happened to cause such a rule."
→ More replies (5)2
u/Rockinsabi Sep 15 '26
Why don’t you just use a three way match with a PO? Do you guys regularly order cogs supplies with no PO? These gloves are defos not an office supply, so already no PO no sub ledger rec = no pay
It’ll fk ur balance sheet unless you shove it into a p&l
2
u/PrimaryThis9900 Sep 15 '26
Believe me I’m trying for something similar. We are currently using a typewriter to hand type purchase orders. We just switched to a digital system for tracking and approving invoices and vendors last year.
2.1k
u/DontLook_Weirdo Sep 14 '26
Lol oh wow. They're trying to sneak through business' who just pay to clear out debts
668
u/c4ndyman31 Sep 14 '26
237
u/austin101123 Sep 14 '26
That's making fake invoices and providing no product or service, not the same thing.
→ More replies (9)104
u/PancakeMisery Sep 14 '26
you're assuming a lot of good faith on behalf of a company sending out literal scam mail
64
10
u/austin101123 Sep 14 '26
One is (probably) technically legal advertising.
22
u/PancakeMisery Sep 15 '26
probably is doing a lot of heavy lifting when there's a very clear attempt at trying to trick people into paying you. Believe it or not scams aren't legal
→ More replies (7)13
u/Ozzman770 Sep 14 '26
This isnt really the same thing though cause that guy altered legitimate information and submitted fradulent proofs of delivery to secure the money. That guys situation sounds like just straight up fraud
54
u/Zombisexual1 Sep 14 '26
Yah was going to say that this is actually pretty smart, just send them to big corporations like Amazon that pay these with no thought
→ More replies (2)45
u/c4ndyman31 Sep 14 '26
It’s not smart at all it is criminal fraud
44
u/codetony Sep 14 '26
Technically not criminal fraud as long as the goods are delivered as promised.
Scummy way of doing business? Absolutely. Illegal? Probably not.
9
22
u/ajb1102 Sep 14 '26
And even in the big companies, there is usually someone internal who has to claim the service and sign off on it.
21
u/Zombisexual1 Sep 14 '26
Dude literally just sent invoices 😂
13
u/ajb1102 Sep 14 '26
He fabricated contracts and posed as one of their vendors… he didn’t “just send them invoices”
4
u/SolidLegacy1 Sep 14 '26
Where is the fraud? The form says its an ad not an invoice.
→ More replies (1)49
u/MavisBeacons_Sextape Sep 14 '26
Worked in financial crimes investigations for the last 15 years and have seen countless instances of this scam being successfully executed. Sooo many internal controls combos that can minimize the risk of invoices like this getting paid, if not entirely neutralize it…and yet, it still happens all the time. Companies whose FY closes this month will see a huge spike in fake invoices.
3
u/TerranRepublic Sep 15 '26 edited Sep 15 '26
Yeah we are a NO PO, NO PAY company which to my understanding eliminates most risk to this type of scam. PMs also approve invoices and even legit companies have a hard enough time getting approved lol.
→ More replies (1)17
u/morph23 Sep 14 '26
There are 2 variants of this kind of scam. One is just erroneous billing trying to get companies to blindly pay for nothing. The 2nd, which this seems to be per the disclosure, is similar but they'll actually fulfill the goods/services, taking payment up front as a binding contract but making it seem like a bill in arrears.
→ More replies (2)24
u/scyice Sep 14 '26
I get these all the time for my website domains.
“BILL DUE” and “PAY NOW” to keep your website. But it’s just some company that will charge you more and then want to transfer your domain contract to them.
8
u/AggressiveGarbage91 Sep 15 '26
this sort of scam is especially common to businesses in CA (I can't speak for other states because I don't have dealings but I'm positive it happens elsewhere). I had to register a business with the California Secretary of State, and since we didn't have a registered agent, the owner was the listed agent online. The scammers found his email address elsewhere online and have been sending him many emails about invoices being due for the CA SOS registration. he forwards them to me all the time to pay and I have to explain like hey this is a scam. they want to take your money and then register themselves as the agent on our behalf. I did all this - if you want so badly to pay these ~$300 invoices, please pay it to me instead 😂
edit: typos
267
u/CakeHoleKing Sep 14 '26
They can't even spell solicitation.
Scam hoping finance just processes it.
→ More replies (2)38
u/PossiblyATurd Sep 14 '26
Saver, as well.
Although I suppose savor is apt for their chosen method of economical digestion.
709
u/1jarretts Sep 14 '26
I receive these quite often. Only pay invoices from vendors you know you worked with.
Anyone with the ability to read should know 200 gloves do not cost $100. That’s common sense.
I wish these scams would be illegal!
195
u/PrimaryThis9900 Sep 14 '26
I looked them up just because I was curious, about $20 for a box of 200. So this should be $200, not $1,000!
→ More replies (2)47
u/Rintake Sep 14 '26
Wondering if its suppose to be cases of boxes of gloves. With a case being a bit cheaper per than individual boxes are.
Ive seen a company at my old job that only sold them by the case and had it written similar to that.
36
u/polyhistorist Sep 14 '26
Probably not - bet whoever this is trying to act as an expensive middleman for companies that don't do a good job of monitoring what they actually purchase.
22
u/siazdghw Sep 14 '26
Decided to Google the company, and yeah, that seems what they are doing. Company only sells these gloves (they aren't the manufacturer), their address is a P.O. Box, website looks horrific.
So it's extremely likely that this isn't a real business (shocking), but a scammer acting as a middleman trying to trick businesses into paying the fake invoice and then drop shipping the gloves. I doubt they even have any inventory.
8
u/aggressive_napkin_ Sep 15 '26
a case of nitrile gloves won't come close to 1000, especially some shit 4 mil.
2
u/UnconventionallyRed Sep 14 '26
Given that it says "economy saver pack" this is likely the case. This is a description which just HAPPENS to include a count, but it's not indicative of the actual case size. Soda, for example, would be marked as "whatever the hell the drink is 12oz" you're not buying 12oz of product, that's just the end product size. This just doesn't include the case quantity.
Primary's reference of "20 for 200" just about matched the 2x price jump you'd expect for wholesale vs retail.
→ More replies (1)8
u/LiveCourage334 Sep 14 '26
Given that it says Economy Savor Pack (sic) I’m not feeling that charitable
17
u/SadCaptain9487 Sep 14 '26
I think it is illegal but nobody enforces it now
3
u/_off_piste_ Sep 15 '26
The FBI reached out to my company about one of these that we received so it appears they do, occasionally at least.
4
9
u/MisterTrashPanda Sep 14 '26
Well it's 10 count, so 2,000. But yeah still crazy.
13
u/Baghins Sep 14 '26
It says the box is 200 count and the unit price is $99.50. So around $100 per box of 200. The quantity of boxes was 10, so the $995 invoice is for 10 boxes of 200 gloves, or 2000 gloves for $995.
3
→ More replies (1)2
u/VelvetMafia Sep 14 '26
Where's 2000 coming from? The fake invoice is asking for $100/box of 200 gloves (x10), so $1k
The gloves typically cost about $20/box of 200, so ten boxes = $200.
Were you counting gloves?
8
u/Portable_Donghead Sep 14 '26
They are talking about the amount of gloves on the "invoice", which says 10 packs of 200 gloves = 2000 gloves
3
u/Venasaurasaurus Sep 14 '26
Kind of a ridiculous point to even include in a comment. Like an episode of The Office where Darryl mentions being responsible for handling hundreds of millions of units of inventory but meant literally pieces of paper.
6
u/Portable_Donghead Sep 14 '26
The comment they have replied to mentioned it was $1000 for only 200 gloves, they simply said it's for 2000 but yeah still too much
3
u/Venasaurasaurus Sep 14 '26
I meant the first two comments, where they said 200 for $100, and the next comment said 10 count for 2000. Seemed redundant since the original comment was still correct on per box price.
3
→ More replies (4)3
u/MisterTrashPanda Sep 14 '26
You are correct, I misread the initial comment on the qty/box, so my comment was unnecessary.
3
u/Venasaurasaurus Sep 14 '26
And just fyi, I meant ridiculous as in funny comparison like the scene, since apparently someone in the comments is bent out of shape about it. My bad.
2
u/MisterTrashPanda Sep 14 '26
It's cool. I expect my self-esteem will recover from this hit by this time next year...
→ More replies (0)2
→ More replies (1)3
92
u/Curious-External-7 Sep 14 '26
"Economy savor" and "solisitation"? They aren't even trying.
52
u/ImpossibleD Sep 14 '26
It’s intentional to weed out the people who pay attention to detail. If they inadvertently scammed a competent company they might be in trouble. Same thing with phishing.
2
u/StressOverStrain Sep 15 '26
No, it’s just lazy/poor proofreading skills.
Nobody with “attention to detail” is scouring your disclaimer to check if your obviously fake invoice is obviously fake.
11
→ More replies (1)3
43
u/AdWonderful5920 Sep 14 '26
Any Accounts Payable worker drone worth their salt will notice that it isn't an invoice and shitcan it. They are trying to catch you unawares.
29
u/JK_NC Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 14 '26
Didn’t some guy make millions over the years by sending fake invoices to Google or Apple?
This looks like it could be the same scam but they added the fine print to cover themselves
Edit- Lithuanian man grifted $120m over 2 years with fake invoices emailed to Google and Facebook.
23
u/Akerlof Sep 14 '26
Yeah, this is one of the oldest scams in the book. To the point that there are laws explicitly banning "advertisement" disguised as an invoice.
15
u/masterxc Sep 14 '26
I wish they would ban the letters with "OPEN IMMEDIATELY" and looking like either government or actual important documents but are actually advertisements. I've gotten so many of them and still do.
→ More replies (2)8
u/DocMomomo Sep 14 '26
You don’t want a $2000 dollar loan that only costs $3000 after paying from checks 2 cash?
2
u/CorrectPeanut5 Sep 14 '26
I see them all the time for corporate renewals to the Sec of State. They will file the renewals, but the renewals usually have no cost.
27
u/BabysGotAProblem Sep 14 '26
Oh man we used to get stuff like this mailed and faxed to an office I worked at in the early 2000s. It was usually for printer ink of some sort.
8
u/MurkyMitzy Sep 14 '26
Light bulbs! Very expensive light bulbs, too, if you were foolish enough to pay the bill.
3
u/aggressive_napkin_ Sep 15 '26
we used to get the toner ink calls. our record was around 42 minutes of holds and transfers as we found the correct person who could authorize the purchase or figure out where the printer model was. only bounced between 3 people too.
51
u/Atl_Potato Sep 14 '26
If there ain’t a po # I can match you ain’t getting paid squat.
Also wish I could get that kind of markup.
21
u/BobFTS Sep 14 '26
I have my own domain and website. I get dozens of emails a week that have pretend conversations with my “employees” that agreed to pay an invoice. Its just a CV/resume website I don’t sell any thing or have employees. It gets old real fast .
17
u/InchHigh-PrivateEye Sep 14 '26
100 count of nitrile gloves cost $7.75. Source: I'm a purchaser and just bought them.
→ More replies (4)3
15
u/Final_Echidna_6743 Sep 15 '26
Thus isn’t new. Many yrs ago there was a scam going around. One was for a skid of fluorescent lights. Skid would show uP then a day or 2 later an invoice would show up. Many thinking someone must have ordered it so they cut a check. Many people told them to get stuffed. So the company would ask you to ship them back to them. Many also said “you want them? Come get them, we ain’t wasting a minute on your stupid games”. I know one local company started sending invoices back to the scammer for storage fees.
12
u/Weird-Girl-675 Sep 14 '26
Oh yeah we got this last year. I looked up the company and it’s a well known scam.
Some people are just living to grift.
20
8
u/Few_Theme_2491 Sep 14 '26
Just putting the 'invoice' aside a minute - in my job I have to use these gloves and that price looks pretty high to me. 10 boxes of 200 for nearly 1k?
3
u/USERNAME_BUT_LOUDER Sep 15 '26
Literally exactly 10x the cost of the gloves I use in pharma manufacturing clean rooms all day lol
→ More replies (1)2
u/Zedman5000 Sep 14 '26
Yeah I'm pretty sure the nitrile gloves I get for my 3D printing hobby would get me a thousand gloves for the price of one box of 200 from them...
Like I don't think I'd want to do surgery wearing the gloves I get off Amazon, but I'd need more info before deciding whether I want to buy those gloves to do surgery with, too.
6
25
u/SinisterCheese Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 15 '26
Surely thay can not be legal. Not even in the clown land that is USA. Is there no "reasonable person" standard?
12
12
u/Commentor9001 Sep 14 '26
I mean if they sent an invoice, you pay it, and they deliver the items specified on it... I'm having a hard time seeing that going anywhere legally
25
u/AdWonderful5920 Sep 14 '26
It's not an invoice tho. Every place I've worked at has people working in AP who pick up on that right way. They will not process "statements," "estimates," "quotes," etc.. The document must specifically state that it is an Invoice or it's going in the junk mail pile.
6
u/AWinnipegGuy Sep 14 '26
It clearly states ORDER FORM. That's not an invoice. The word invoice doesn't appear anywhere other than in the disclaimer that it is not a bill or invoice.
It's legal, but skeezy and should make people wary of doing business with this company.
5
u/Commentor9001 Sep 14 '26
Right, it doesnt say "DUE" anywhere on it. It doesnt misrepresent itself.
→ More replies (1)11
u/mac-0 Sep 14 '26
... It misrepresents itself by looking exactly like an invoice and only putting "this is not an invoice" in small font where someone will likely not see it.
6
u/Commentor9001 Sep 14 '26
"I didnt read it" isnt the ironclade defense you seem to think.
It doesn't say the amount is actually due, the word invoice/bill/etc doesnt appear... ive seen loads of qoutes formatted that way
→ More replies (2)10
u/PunishedDemiurge Sep 14 '26
You're just ethically the same as these frauds, which is the problem. At no point, would I ever want any customer or potential customer to be confused about any aspect of my product, pricing, or ordering process. I want to sell to people based on merit alone, and ideally, close to 100% of people are happy with the product.
Only dishonest men camouflage something to look like something else and then hide caveats in small text.
5
u/loopsbruder Sep 15 '26
I don't think they're defending it, just observing that the recipient's only legal recourse is to pay attention.
5
u/masterxc Sep 14 '26
It's very unfortunate that fraud like this is *technically* legal. This company should be blacklisted from any company they try to pull this on.
5
5
u/SpinozaBaruch_ Sep 15 '26
2000 Nitrile Gloves 995$?!
This has to be a joke, those are worth less than 100€. I cannot understand how americans are not already burning the country down.
5
u/mithrandir2398 Sep 14 '26
Happens to older people all the time. They get a mailer talking about their car/house warranty and then get roped into 2 year contracts at $50+ a month. If they accidentally pay, they can expect hundreds of these offers to come in each month. Source: father in law accidentally signed up for one and we get his mail. I throw hundreds of predatory mailers every month
4
3
3
u/EasyMode556 Sep 14 '26
Is this illegal? It feels like it should be illegal, despite the disclaimer
4
u/Gamer_0627 Sep 14 '26
My company will not pay any invoice that doesnt have a valid and matching PO. If the amount is different from the PO, then the purchaser gets an email and has to verify the reason for the difference.
4
5
3
3
3
u/meleecow Sep 14 '26
Wasn't there a guy that did this? He would send invoices to Google and apple, big companies that would just pay said invoice as if it was nothing. Dude made millions but got greedy
3
u/Cottabus Sep 14 '26
This is an old scam. I remember throwing out “invoices” for copier toner and fax paper back in the 80s.
3
u/R8B3L Sep 14 '26
We just got one of those too. Our accounting department freaked out because there was no PO.
3
u/redditreader_aitafan Sep 14 '26
$100 for one fucking box of nitrile gloves?! I know this is a scam, but come on, make it believable ffs.
3
3
u/MrBoo843 Sep 14 '26
Nowhere does it say it's an invoice. It says pretty clearly this is an order form
3
3
u/Average_40s_Guy Sep 15 '26
Used to deal with shit like this when I managed a small business. One time, they got me. They basically lied to me via phone call. Once I found out, we fought it and got our money back. Guy said he had a recording of me agreeing but it also caught him lying.
3
u/EthanielRain Sep 15 '26
Pure scam
Crazy this is legal. I've gotten "checks" in the mail, up to 10 grand. Ofc cashing them = accepting awful loan rates
3
3
u/Imnotspartacuseither Sep 15 '26
Are the gloves edible? Is this why they are part of the savor bundle?
3
3
u/DramaticPinkumni Sep 15 '26
The reason orders are placed on a PO and invoices are matched to a PO before remittance
Garbage like this should be viewed as a scam and treated as such by prosecuting them
3
u/ExceptionEX Sep 15 '26
This is a standard scam, that business get daily, It is why you have to be very careful about receivables and trace all invoices to actual real business expenses. I can tell of hundreds of companies that we've worked with that have fallen for these related to their domains, because it is an expense most in the company don't really understand but know they need.
3
u/thepitcherplant Sep 15 '26
You can get powder free nitrile gloves in multi boxes for less than a 1/10th of that.
3
3
u/Jg6915 Sep 15 '26
That’s why the company i work for uses order numbers. Everything we order gets a number. Goods, services, literally everything. If you send us an invoixe without a matching number, we refuse to pay.
2
u/TwoBitRetro Sep 14 '26
I received one too. I also regularly get "invoices" from domain registrars and companies trying to invoice me for light fixtures and/or LED bulbs. About 10 years there was a guy that sent generic invoices to Google and Meta. They paid them and he brought in over $120 million dollars over a few years before he was caught.
2
u/rlwarner78 Sep 14 '26
We get these all the time. If you pay it they send you the 100.00 box of gloves for the 1000.00 you paid them. Known scam.
2
2
u/Waagtod Sep 14 '26
I get a couple every week. The USPS used to be vigilant and go after scammers but they gutted the services in the 70's and are now run by a lawyer who has ties to FedEx. Because somehow having someone who worked strictly on the legal side knows about shipping and services? Mail services keep getting worse and worse until they will disappear. Then the private sector can take over and offer slightly better service at astronomical prices.
2
u/Socalteacher502 Sep 14 '26
We used to get those from a company claiming to be servicing and refilling fire extinguishers. Such a scam
2
2
2
u/sidesslidingslowly Sep 14 '26
This is the snail mail spam of the business world. It's existed for many years. Plenty of things come across in this form that tricks to appear like government documents as well. And like most any other kind of spam or phishing attempt, once you know what to look for it becomes blatantly obvious.
2
u/JaseDace1224 Sep 14 '26
Am I reading it correctly, that the charge is $995 for 10 boxes of 200 nitrile gloves? 2000 gloves for that much? Not trying to make a sale, but if your company needs gloves, I can make you much better deal.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/Keeper_71 Sep 14 '26
They used to do the same with printer toner. Then if someone in accounting just paid it, you signed up for their service. Absolute scammers.
2
u/warrenjr527 Sep 15 '26
Wow this is super shady, or could be called fraud . How many people would miss the fine print and just pay the " bill" and you contractually agreed to this. IDK How much the medical grade gloves costs but this seems expensive.
2
u/OrlDemo Sep 15 '26
We got the exact same thing in the mail… we were all wondering why the hell a demolition company would need nitrile gloves. 🤣
2
2
u/crochetawayhpff Sep 15 '26
These are super common. Just taught my admin how to spot them a few weeks ago
2
u/Celtic_Witch86 Sep 15 '26
I think they do stuff like that because most people don't actually read the fine print. So they see the invoice from the company, they don't remember doing anything with the company but maybe they did, and they just pay it. Then the company has them as a customer. I get stuff like this from companies and insurance, it's like Thanks for the small heart attack!
2
u/Striking_Ad_3960 Sep 15 '26
Basic Business Law. Offer and acceptance constitutes a “meeting of the minds”, the basis for a contract. But it is not binding until payment is made. When you pay that bill, you have a binding contract, you agree that you will pay that much, and they must give you the product. I don’t see the problem.
2
u/Romwil Sep 15 '26
That’s an insane price for 4 mil gloves at that volume. Nice they threw in free shipping for it
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/ObjectCrafty6221 Sep 15 '26
Typically when you receive an order form, and send payment you should receive an invoice reflecting paid in full.
2
2
u/apearlmae Sep 15 '26
My company got caught up with one of these for register printer paper rolls. My manager did it and I spent months dealing with the aftermath.
2
u/lip Sep 15 '26
When you start an LLC you start getting lots of these randomly, theres a big annual LLC registration one that looks almost like the official yearly state govt renewal form but at the bottom they say its a service offered to renew for you, a $300 service for a $50 renewal
2
2
u/RidgeRunner7657 Sep 15 '26
When I purchase Nitrile gloves, I expect them to have a size reference and come in 100 packs. And be rated for food or examination or some particular usage. I also expect 1,000 gloves to cost $35 so the toughest part I see for this scammer is they should need to dropship gloves in boxes of 200 and cases of 2,000 when a mark sends a check.
2
u/Responsible-Shoe7258 Sep 15 '26
Like I would ever do business with an outfit that stoops to this kind of stinky shit....
2
u/rcroche01 Sep 15 '26
Yeah ... This is a scam as old as the hills. It's an ad for their products, nothing more. It is made to look like an invoice so your a/p dept accidently pays it. And once it gets paid, you receive the overpriced products you had no intention of ordering. 🤦♂️
Back in the day, this was huge with yellow pages advertising in "other" yellow pages books (not the one from the phone company).
2
u/rantingandrambling Sep 15 '26
insane pricing too
dear my do these gloves out themselves on too ???
2
u/30_characters Sep 15 '26
They'd better hope for their sake that they didn't send this via US Mail. The US Postal Inspection Service is legendary in their dedication to their jobs.
Report fraud here - https://fcsexternal.uspis.gov/fcsexternal/externalcomplaintsex
2
2
3
4.1k
u/useless_panda09 Sep 14 '26
“Payment constitutes a binding contract.”
how convenient.