ASA has been made aware of an alleged fraudulent payrolling scam being perpetrated on staffing firms with offices in New York and Georgia, and possibly throughout the country.

The alleged scam operates as follows: An individual claiming to be the owner of an enterprise contacts a staffing firm to payroll employees while the enterprise sets up a new office in a nearby city. The enterprise provides fictitious employee information and falsified time cards to the staffing firm, and the staffing firm pays wages to these employees. When it is time for the staffing company to collect payment for services rendered, the business offers new addresses to which invoices should be sent and then stops responding to communications, leaving the staffing firm with payroll paid over several weeks and no way to collect.

Two companies that have been identified as perpetrating the alleged scam are Black Mountain Holdings and A&G Transportation Inc. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and state authorities have reportedly been made aware of the alleged fraud.

Before taking on new payrolling clients, staffing firms are urged to independently verify that any such client is legitimate and has adequate assets or funding to satisfy its debts.