PPB magazine has won a Silver Azbee Award of Excellence for its May 2015 article “Are You The Next Victim?” The story detailed internet scams targeting primarily distributors in the promotional products industry and gave tips on how to identify unscrupulous ploys and prevent this type of business fraud.

The award was announced by the American Society of Business Publication Editors in late June. More than 1,150 entries were received for this year’s competition in more than 75 entry categories.

“While internet scams are nothing new, their frequency has continued to rise and it has become more common for our members to follow through and then lose several hundred or several thousands of dollars by fulfilling an email order and then not getting paid,” says PPB editor Tina Berres Filipski. “In addition to finding members who were scammed and getting them to tell their stories, we also followed one of these email scams through to the point of accepting payment. It was enlightening how easy it is to fall prey—especially if you are an eager small-business owner trying to increase revenues. I’m grateful to the members who shared their stories, including Lisa Parke of Advertising Specialties LLC and Terry McGuire of HALO Branded Solutions. With their help, we were able to shed light on a few of the types of scams affecting our industry, and provide tips and best practices to help readers avoid being the next victim.”

Read the story here.