Members of the Garden Industry Manufacturers Association (GIMA) have once again issued a warning to suppliers being targeted by hoax order requests.
An email purporting to come from 'John Gillan' of 'Iverson Groups/William & Son (Package) Ltd' was recently received by GIMA director Neil Gow, enquiring about pricing and sizes of troughs and credit card payment options.

According to Mr Gow, the scammers order "unusually large quantities" of products and say they will arrange collection themselves. "Ultimately, the company will claim to have paid for the products, then say they have paid the incorrect amount and ask for you to transfer the money back to them."

A quick search on Google has revealed identical emails from 'Mr Gillan' as well as other aliases ('Clarke Duncan') from the same company, targeting suppliers from various industries. The emails are recognisable for their bad grammar and misspelled words. While one person targeted by the scam reported the Iverson company to be based in Georgia, USA, another email appeared to be from Sweden and Mr Gow's from Dubai.

All suppliers and retailers are being warned to watch out for emails of this nature.