This is a scam that can hit individuals and businesses alike. You get what looks like an invoice in the mail - maybe for a magazine subscription. Turns out you never subscribed to this magazine, so this is just a solicitation. But it looks just like a bill - it has an amount due, the magazine name, the dates of the subscription -- maybe even an account number.

So if you're busy (like a lot of small businesses) you pay the bill. The solution is to keep good records of what you've subscribed to - whether it's a magazine, domain registration, yellow-page listing, etc. These things can hit businesses especially hard, because someone in the accounting department gets it, and assumes it's a bill for a product that someone else in the company ordered.

If you fall for one of these, you can file a consumer complaint with our office.