The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is alerting School Districts across northern Illinois about a school supply billing scam.
Complaints are being filed against a Las Vegas, NV business “Scholastic School Supply” that has allegedly sent false invoices to schools and schools districts in 22 states. The districts are being billed $647.50 for a bulk purchase of text books that were never requested or received.
“This scam is similar to the “Yellow Pages Scam” that we first saw in 2013” says Dennis Horton, director of the Rockford Regional Office of the Better Business Bureau “In that scam small businesses and churches lost more than $14 million dollars paying the bogus invoices.”
Information from the BBB serving Southern Nevada states that they have received 51 complaints from throughout the country, as well as nearly 2,400 inquiries regarding this scam operation. The Nevada BBB says that complaints continue to rise in increments of as many as 15 per day. “With that kind of activity it easy to see how quickly the losses could add up” noted Horton.
School Districts should be aware that the contact information found on the invoices includes an email address which consumers report when contacted no responses are received, a phone number which routes to a series of voice mail boxes, and mail drop address in Sewell, New Jersey or Las Vegas. Although “Scholastic School Supply” lists addresses in those locations on it invoices, the BBB has been unable to locate any corporation filings, business licenses, or any other business entity documentation for it in either of those states.
