The state’s top attorney is warning schools, businesses, towns, cities and other government agencies about a mass mailing that appears to be a bill for services performed but is apparently a scam.

The mailing is a “disguised solicitation that may mislead recipients to pay for services that were neither ordered nor received,” Maine Attorney General William J. Schneider wrote in a news release Friday.

A California-based company named UST sent out the mailing that appear to be bills seeking payment for telecom maintenance agreements totaling $425. The billing invoices don’t include any product information and don’t indicate that a contract is being offered, Schneider wrote. Instead, the mailing gives the “misleading impression that the service has been rendered and payment is now due.”

In his release, Schneider wrote that his office has heard from local school and city purchasing agents who were sent invoices but hadn’t done business with UST.

“This solicitation is a ruse and organizations should not be fooled into paying for something they never ordered,” he wrote.

U.S. Postal Service regulations prohibit the mailing of a “bill-type advertisement” or solicitation without a clear disclaimer, Schneider wrote. “This disclaimer must be in very large type and must be in boldface capital letters in a color that contrasts prominently with the background against which it appears.”

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