A good eye and an even better memory have saved the Association from being scammed out of $15,000.

On June 27, a finance employee at PPAI received an email from someone claiming to be the “manager of special events & communications associate” at the Children’s Medical Center Foundation, which is in Dallas.

In the email, the person says that “per Dale’s request, I’ve attached the pledge invoice to this email.” Underneath was a chain of emails between the person and supposedly Dale Denham, MAS+, president and CEO of PPAI.

Alarm Bells

The finance employee identified several red flags in the email chain:

  • The email was sent to the wrong address for such a request.
  • The pledge invoice wasn’t attached as stated in the email and the font size changed at one point.
  • The employee didn’t recognize “correspondence@ppai.org” as Denham’s email address.
  • Plus, all of his emails have a signature block at the end, which weren’t included in these emails.


Perhaps most remarkable is that the employee noticed the email was sent “via the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G, an AT&T 5G smartphone,” which didn’t sit well.

“I remembered Dale saying in a staff meeting a few months back that he FINALLY switched to an iPhone,” the employee says.

RELATED: Florida Distributorship’s Bank Account Hacked

With all that in mind, the employee messaged Denham on Microsoft Teams detailing the request for payment. Believing that it sounded familiar, he advised that the employee check with Ellen Tucker, CAE, MAS, vice president of revenue and expositions at PPAI. The employee sent screen shots of the email chain to both Tucker and Denham for context.

“After Dale reviewed the screen shots, he realized this wasn’t a request by him and that we stopped a scam from happening,” the employee says.

  • PPAI employees participate in monthly cybersecurity awareness training.


Increased Scrutiny

As the threat from cyberattacks evolves, the importance of customer data security is vital for all B2B businesses, including those in promotional products. Large end-buyer prospects in particular are sensitive to the need for data security, distributors say.

RELATED: Cybersecurity: Big Business’s No. 1 Vendor Priority

As with other digital transformation initiatives, it’s recommended that security receive close executive supervision. On average, promo’s largest companies are more focused on cybersecurity.