ASA has been advised of an alleged payrolling scam in Illinois aimed at staffing agencies. In one reported case, a person claiming to be the owner of an Illinois-based woodworking company allegedly contacted the staffing agency asking that the agency payroll several individuals who were supposedly employees of the woodworking company, but in fact were random individuals whose identities the scammer had stolen.

The scammer supplied the staffing agency with bank account numbers ostensibly belonging to the “employees” but which apparently were accounts the scammer set up to receive the wage payments. The scammer authorized the agency to process an ACH payment to cover the payroll, but immediately reversed the transaction once the agency paid the wages, leaving the agency out of pocket for the amounts paid. At least one other staffing agency reportedly has been the subject of a similar scam.

Staffing agencies should be on the lookout for such scams and report suspicious or fraudulent activity to their local law enforcement agency.