Procurement Announcements

Nov232022

Notice to Vendors: Fraudulent Purchase Order Email Activity

We want to alert you to an increase in email scams involving fraudulent purchase orders and requests for product quotations purporting to originate from UC Santa Cruz Buyers. While the university cannot prevent this illegal action, we actively work to inform our suppliers of this on-going activity. Common features of these supplier-targeted counterfeit UCSC orders include:

• Invalid contact information, such as email addresses using deceptive extensions; e.g. @ucsantascruz.com, @ucsc.mygbiz.com, or @ucscedu.org
• The email message is poorly written, with misspellings and awkward sentence structure
• Orders start with an e-mail inquiry asking for a quote for a small order followed by a subsequent request for a larger order
• The order designates​ a Ship-To address that is not a UCSC facility or indicates the product will be picked up at the supplier’s premises
• The message may include an attachment designed to look like a purchase order, and it may include a logo or other graphic, and in some cases, a signature
• Please note that the university’s internet address is www.ucsc.edu and it is not our practice to ask our suppliers to ship to addresses that are not UCSC campus facilities. It is also not our practice to place orders for merchandise that will be picked up at supplier premises
• The request lists the address of UC Office of the President in Oakland, which is not a UCSC address
• The request includes the title of Procurement Chancellor, which is a fictitious position

If you believe you have received a fraudulent order or quotation request, you may forward it to UCSC Procurement Services at buy4me@ucsc.edu to verify the communication’s legitimacy before responding.