Don't be victimized by con artists who try to get your company to order goods or services by mailing you solicitations designed to look like invoices. The unscrupulous individuals who mail these know that some unsuspecting managers and employees will be fooled by their appearance and will automatically remit payment, thinking the company had placed an order. Title 39, United States Code, Section 3001, makes it illegal to mail a solicitation in the form of an invoice, bill, or statement of account due unless it conspicuously bears a notice on its face that it is, in fact, merely a solicitation.
Some solicitations disguise their true nature.
In either case, protect your company's assets by withholding payment until you have verified whether your company actually ordered and received the goods or services reflected on the document. If not, do not pay. You may have received a solicitation in the guise of an invoice. Therefore, solicitations in the form of invoices, bills, or statements of account due which do not contain the large and conspicuous disclaimer required by the law will not be carried or delivered by mail if they come to the attention of the Postal Service, and will be disposed of as the Postal Service shall direct. Con artists often make large mailings of illegal solicitations.