Consumers and business owners are being warned to go over their bills carefully after a P.E.I. retailer was taken in by a fake invoice.

In December, Video Pros in Charlottetown received an invoice, apparently from Yellow Pages. At first, Manager Kenny Martin thought it was legitimate because his business buys advertising space with the phone book company.

"It had a proper address, it had 'Yellow Pages' and the actual fee was very similar to what we otherwise pay during the year," said Martin. But then he quickly received two more invoices, each increasingly insistent that Video Pros pay its bill.

Video Pros Manager Kenny Martin is warning other business owners and consumers to watch out for scam artists portraying themselves as a legitimate company. (CBC)

"It just said this must be paid within 10 days, and it even had a number to contact to say how are you going to go about paying. It has to be paid or it's going to go into collection," said Martin.

He got suspicious and decided to check with his Yellow Pages representative. She told him it was a fraud.

"Looking more closely at the bill, you can see the logo is upside down ... and it says 'Yellow Page,' not 'Yellow Pages,'" Martin observed.

An official at Yellow Pages head office said it's a common scam that's popped up around the country. Fiona Story said it's one of the headaches that come with having a well-known brand.

Story suggested anyone who is mailed an invoice they suspect may not be real should contact the company, as well as the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and the Competition Bureau.

In the meantime, Martin has reported the bogus invoices to local police and sent out a warning to other businesses he deals with.