Federal Prosecutors say a North Carolina man pleaded guilty in a Rochester courtroom to a conspiracy to commit mail fraud charge.
30-year-old Nicholas Scarantino owned a chemical sales company in California.
For several months in 2021, he and others mailed thousands of fake invoices in the name of Direct Chemicals to companies all over the United States.
873 companies fell victim to the scheme and paid the fraudulent invoices, netting Scarantino and his associates more than $860,000.
A number of Western New York companies were victimized, including firms in Henrietta, Brockport, Rochester, Avon, Tonawanda and Niagara Falls.
Scarantino was tracked down by the FBI.
He faces sentencing in March.