Fraud Alert

The California Department of General Services (DGS) has recently been made aware of several fraudulent orders that have been placed with different vendors throughout the state. Unauthorized users have been impersonating State of California employees to place fraudulent orders in a variety of ways, including the following:

1. Issuance of fraudulent Purchase Orders (PO) being sent from what appears to be a legitimate DGS email address from an actual DGS employee. While these POs may appear to be legitimate, they are not.
2. Communication with vendors/suppliers from fake email accounts, which look similar to State of California email addresses.
3. Shipping instructions to locations which are not viable state agency locations.
4. Using State of California employee names/phones on a fake PO.
5. Calling vendors directly, impersonating a State of California employee representing a department and attempting to place an order.
6. Calling vendors typically used by the state and ordering equipment typically used by the state; particularly those under $10,000.

In light of these activities, DGS Procurement Division encourages all vendors to be diligent and exercise best practices to ensure your cyber security. If you believe you may have received a fraudulent PO, please utilize the resource below to help protect yourself from falling victim to these scams.

1. Check the origin of any PO. Confirm the order is being sent from an official State of California email, viable address, or fax.  Do not assume an email is legitimate even if it has what appears to be an official State of California suffix such as: “firstname.lastname@department.ca.gov."
2. If in doubt, vendors should request a supervisor’s name and contact information, and contact the supervisor to validate the PO.
3. All items shipped should be addressed to a viable State of California department location (NOT a P.O. Box, storage facility, etc.).
4. Vendors should consider utilizing an internet mapping search tool that can provide an image of the business and thus verify a legitimate address and association to a State of California entity.

A helpful tool that provides access to government information is the California Online Directory (COLD). The directory includes state employee information, state agency information, and a State Government Organization Chart.

DGS recommends that all businesses who deal with the state take precautions to ensure any orders received from the state are legitimate and valid.

DGS remains committed to keeping affected parties informed and continues to exercise vigilance in order to address this issue.

Resources

• Cal eProcure site

If you believe that you have received a fraudulent Purchasing Order:

• CHP

• Attorney General

If you have received a spoof email:

• Federal Trade Commission

California Online Directory (COLD)

• https://cold.govops.ca.gov/