The Oregon Natural Resources Report - Agricultural News from Oregon

January 27, 2010

By Washington State Nursery and Landscaping Association

WSNLA has learned that an identify fraud scheme is targeting landscape firms. A firm receives a fax that says it is from the United States Department of Transportation and that the Department requires certain information in order to qualify the firm as a prospective contractor. A “financial information release form” is provided and the company is told they must fax the form in to qualify for contracts. This letter is not from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

If you have received such a letter you should immediately contact your bank. If you have already suffered a loss due to this scheme, please contact Secret Service Special Agent Donnelly at 210-846-4708 and report the loss to assist the Secret Service in pursuing this case.

The Secret Service recommends extreme caution in all financial disclose areas and recommends the following business practices:

• Keep a close eye on all reported activities in your bank account(s).
• Notify your bank that any additional lines of credit or wire transactions should be viewed with suspicion and must be directly cleared with your company’s official agent.
• Never provide information that would give access to your bank accounts without fully confirming who is receiving that information.

WSNLA will keep you informed about this issue as information becomes available. Thanks to the WSNLA member who took swift action to share this information.