Supplier Alert: Fraudulent Purchase Orders
This notice is for existing and prospective suppliers to The Renco Group, Inc.
Criminals have been targeting suppliers across the United States by posing as The Renco Group, Inc. (“Renco”) and placing orders for goods and services in our name. These solicitations and purchase orders are fraudulent. Renco does not authorize them, will not pay for them, and accepts no responsibility for any loss incurred by a supplier who fulfills them.
We are publishing this alert so that our current and potential suppliers can recognize these schemes and avoid becoming victims. While Renco cannot stop this criminal activity, we report specific instances to the appropriate authorities as we become aware of them, and we are glad to help suppliers confirm whether an order is genuine before any goods are shipped or services are provided.
How the scheme typically works
A supplier receives an email, phone call, or purchase order that appears to come from Renco or a Renco employee. The document may closely resemble a legitimate Renco inquiry and often uses our company name, logo, and the names of real or fabricated employees. The order is usually placed on credit terms, and the goods are directed to a delivery or pickup location that is not affiliated with Renco. In some cases the fraudster provides a legitimate-looking address at first and then changes the ship-to destination after the order is accepted. Once the goods are delivered or picked up, no payment ever follows, and the supplier is left unable to recover the products.
Typically, the items ordered by fraudsters are things that Renco has never ordered and would never order, such as chemicals and industrial supplies.
PLEASE BE AWARE THAT RENCO DOES NOT PURCHASE CHEMICALS, INDUSTRIAL MATERIALS, LARGE PIECES OF EQUIPMENT AND DOES NOT TYPICALLY PLACE BULK ORDERS. ANY ORDER OF THIS NATURE SHOULD IMMEDIATELY AROUSE SUSPICION.
Warning signs of a fraudulent order
The email address or website domain does not match Renco’s. Legitimate Renco correspondence comes only from addresses ending in @rencogrp.com, and our only official website is rencogroup.net.
A lookalike domain is used in place of ours. For example, fraudsters have used rencogrps[.]com — an extra letter added to our real domain — to appear authentic.
The ship-to or pickup address is not a known Renco location, or the delivery address is changed at the last minute.
The order comes from an unfamiliar contact, or from someone whose role would not ordinarily involve purchasing the type of goods being requested.
Phone or fax numbers are provided that are not associated with Renco.
The order is for items that would not be used in an office setting and/or unusually large quantities are ordered, particularly from a supplier with no prior relationship with Renco.
There is pressure to ship immediately, expedite delivery, or arrange a rushed pickup.
Payment is requested on credit terms via a credit application you did not initiate.
Legitimate vs. fraudulent contact details
Renco conducts business only through the email domain @rencogrp.com and the website rencogroup.net. We do not use free or consumer email services such as Gmail, Outlook, or Proton to place orders, and we do not use domains ending in .net, .org, or .info for company email. Fraudsters frequently register domains that differ from ours by a single character, so please examine every address carefully.
Before acting on any request, hover over the sender’s email address and inspect the full message header to confirm the message truly originated from @rencogrp.com. A display name reading “The Renco Group” is not proof of authenticity — the underlying address is what matters.
Additional guidance
Even when a purchase order appears to come from a genuine Renco email address, we encourage you to verify it directly with us if the order is unusually large, if you have not previously done business with Renco, or if anything about the request seems inconsistent. Publicly available identifiers — such as a company’s address or tax information — can be copied by fraudsters and included on a fake order or credit application to make it appear legitimate. When in doubt, confirm before you ship.
How to verify an order or report suspected fraud
If you receive a purchase order, quotation request, or credit application that claims to be from Renco and you have any doubt about its legitimacy, please contact us before providing any goods or services:
The Renco Group, Inc. — One Rockefeller Plaza, 29th Floor, New York, NY 10020
Telephone: (212) 541-6000
Please include copies of any emails, purchase orders, or other documents you have received so that we can confirm whether the request is genuine and advise you on next steps. If a request is fraudulent, we can help you determine the appropriate action, including reporting the attempt to law enforcement.
Internet-enabled fraud can also be reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. If your company has already shipped goods against an order you now believe to be fraudulent, we encourage you to contact us and file a report with the IC3 promptly.
Important
Suppliers are solely responsible for verifying the authenticity of any purchase order, quotation request, or credit application before fulfilling it. The Renco Group, Inc. is not responsible for any loss arising from a supplier fulfilling a fraudulent or unauthorized order. The tactics, names, addresses, phone numbers, and domains used by fraudsters change frequently and may not all be reflected here. We update this page when we can, but the information above may not be complete or current.