WASHINGTON, May 23, 2000 -- As part of its efforts to protect small businesses, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated a new grassroots business education campaign known as Project BOSS (Banish Office Supply Scams).

The FTC announced Project BOSS at a Senate Small Business Committee hearing in March 2000. In October 1999, the Commission appeared before the same Committee to testify about Web site cramming. The Commission testified at both hearings that business education is one of the most powerful tools to prevent fraud.

As part of its consumer education drive, the FTC has prepared some tips for small businesses to avoid being scammed by fraudulent office supply telemarketers and others:

• Know your rights. If you receive bills for goods and services you didn't order, don't pay. The law allows you to treat unordered goods and services as a gift. Double-check, however, to make sure that an honest mistake hasn't been made.
• Review your phone bills as soon as they arrive. Be on the lookout for charges for goods and services you haven't ordered or authorized. If you find an error on your bill, follow the instructions on your statement for filing a dispute.
• Assign purchasing to designated staff. And document all your purchases. Train your staff in how to respond to telemarketers. Advise employees who are not authorized to order goods and services to say, "I'm not authorized to place orders. If you want to offer or sell us something, you must speak to ______________."
• Buy from people you know and trust. Authorized employees should be skeptical of "cold" or unsolicited calls and feel comfortable saying "no" to high-pressure sales tactics.
• Check out the organization with the Attorney General or Better Business Bureau in your state or the state where the organization is located before you send any money for any product or service. This is not foolproof: there may be no record of complaints if an organization is too new or has changed its name.

Some of the common schemes that prey upon small businesses and nonprofit organizations include:

• Office Supply Fraud - telemarketers pretend to be the regular supplier of copier machine or printer toner, light bulbs or cleaning supplies, and charge highly inflated prices for inferior merchandise;
• Web Site Cramming - con artists charge small businesses for Web site design services that they never ordered;
• Yellow Pages Scams - con artists deceive small businesses into paying for advertising in phone directories that are not widely disseminated;
• Public Safety/Civic Purpose Fund-Raising Scams - for-profit telemarketers solicit small businesses to make charitable contributions by purchasing advertising in bogus publications.

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