Fraud fiesta

Following a spate of dud cheques, Paul Briggs warns resellers not to be blinded by the glare of a good margin

Getting a dud cheque or being fleeced by a bogus venture with a dodgy credit card is about as welcome as a crackhead in a coffee shop, especially in tough times like these.

But as last week's CRN illustrated ('Fraud alert in the channel,' CRN, 17 March), a spate of fraud has been sweeping the channel and catching unsuspecting companies out.

The bad news is that this type of activity doesn't seem likely to go away in the near future.

While extra vigilance is easy to suggest with hindsight, the increasing quality of scanning and printing equipment plus the added anonymity of internet purchasing is not making resellers' lives any easier.

In last week's story, a high-quality counterfeit banker's draft was used to order nearly £400k worth of equipment from a distributor.

Fortunately, the company decided not to release any stock until the draft was cleared, probably saving it from some serious financial trouble.

In this case it was not until closer inspection by the bank that the draft was verified as a dud.

Other companies may not be so lucky. Every penny counts in the current climate and some may be blinded by the thought of margin when they should be concentrating on whether a customer's payment method is legitimate.

So what can resellers do to keep out of the honey-trap of fraud? Well, while Companies House is a good first port of call, some financial observers that are familiar with it estimate that a large majority of the information held there is either out of date or simply inaccurate.

Another solution would be to go to a independent third-party credit-management company, which can give you a clearer picture of your customer.

Very soon, CRN will be offering such a service through its online tools and services portal at www.crnservices.co.uk. Keep returning to see how our offering can help you help your business.