Behind the Scenes of a Toner Pirate

August 19, 2020 | Advanced Office

When it's time to buy toner, there are some pitfalls to be wary of. Toner pirates are out there, and they're waiting to strike just when you least expect it. Here are a few ways that toner pirates try to trick businesses out of their money.

Cloned Toner

Selling high-quality toner would be pretty profitable if you could make the toner yourself, wouldn't it? That's exactly the reasoning behind the sale of cloned toner. This is toner that someone has tried to back engineer and create on their own rather than buying it for resale. This leads to a highly uneven product that is generally low-quality. Using this type of toner in a printer or copier can cause damage to the machine and rob your business of productivity while it gets repaired or replaced.

Impersonating Salespeople

Another scam is to pretend to be a company's toner salesperson. That entails finding out where you buy your toner and then calling and pretending to be those people just to get ahold of your information. Remember that your actual salesperson already has your information on file and doesn't need to call you for any updates. This information can be used to make purchases on the company card or sold to others on the dark web.

Never Delivering

A common scam for toner pirates is to take all of your information, charge you as agreed for toner and then simply never deliver that toner. This creates a lot of logistical problems when the printer is out of toner and none gets delivered for workers to use. Productivity goes down and the company is out the money they spent to get nothing, and they still have to find a real salesperson for toner. This can be avoided by knowing exactly who you're dealing with and shopping locally for your toner. This allows companies to prove themselves in the community and to be there for you anytime there's a problem. 

If you want to avoid toner pirates, contact us today about getting your high-quality toner from a local dealer that is here in the area to stay.