Archive for Scambusters!

TEMDI – The European Medical Directory: scam or not? You decide

Jan 14 | by Sam Deeks | Scambusters!, scam warning
2 Comments

Is TEMDI another directory scam ripping people off with misleading forms or a reputable company?

As usual, you decide.  And to help you, we’d like to build up a list of comments from anyone who feels they’ve been fooled into signing a ‘contract’ for services they don’t want by TEMDI – The European Medical Directory.  If you want to know more, then consult the ever-vigilant Jules Woodell on his site ‘www.stopecg.org’ where you can find full histories of this and many other scams, plus all kinds of other useful information.

My advice is the same as that for another version of this scam (the Expo Guide scam which is currently still very much out there judging from the ever-growing list of comment on this post): don’t pay and don’t even contact them.

Remember, paying once tells them you’re worth bullying for more.  Contacting them by phone tells them you’re afraid and worth bullying.  Responding to them at all ‘qualifies’ you for a step-up in harassment.

The people behind TEMDI – Novachannel AG – have a long and ugly track record of this kind of practice.  The form they use is very similar to those used in all the other directory scams and is carefully designed to make you think you’re signing for a free listing when in fact you’re signing for a 3 year contract at 950 Euros a year. Would they stand a chance in court?  No – but going to court isn’t (never has been) a part of their, ahem, business plan.  They make their money from frightening you into paying.  If a tiny percentage are scared enough to pay, then out of the millions of mail-outs they send every year, they’re making a pretty packet.

We look forward to hearing  your experiences of TEMDI – The European Medical Directory.  The more people report their experiences on sites like this, the harder it wll be for these directories to rip people off.

If you’re approached by an online business directory (of any kind) you should use my simple, common-sense test to find whether they’re worth the money.

You just need to ask two straightforward questions. This test works as well for legal businesses like TouchLocal as it does for scams.

Click the thumbnail (left) to zoom into the test

EmpathUK: scam or not? You decide (we’ll help you…)

Dec 11 | by Sam Deeks | Scambusters!, scam warning
1 Comment

Empath UK fails the ‘mu:kaumedia 12 point ’scam-detector’ test

logo
Someone pointed me at this site today to cast my beady eye over it.

I’m not saying EmpathUk is a scam (you can make up your own minds on that).  What I am saying though, is that it presents itself like one.

Here are some key points to watch out for generally when you’re trying to judge the credibility of an organisation online (particularly in the Third Sector):

1) Do you trust their motive? ‘We’re here to help you give…….’ Do you need their help to give?  Or are they just hoping to cash in on your charitable nature?

2) Is it accredited with or linked to any charitable organisations?  EmpathUk has no connections, partnerships or references therefore no credibility.

3) Does the website look like it was thrown up in a day? Their website is unprofessional and unconvincing and looks like a front that cost little or nothing to put up.

4) Are there any real people to hold accountable? Responsible organisations are fronted by real people who are contactable.  A Google search turns up almost nothing for ‘Mr. Peter Fayle’ (named as ‘Director’ on site).

5) Is it registered with Companies House or with the Charity Commission? Nope and nope. If it’s not a registered organisation how can Mr. Peter Fayle can’t be a ‘Director’?

6) Does it hide its location? EmpathUk gives no evidence of any real world address.  I do, however, know the exact London block of residential flats that the domain is registered to in Peter Fayle’s name (thanks to Google street map and WhoIs domain name registration search)

7) Does it ask you for personal information? EmpathUk wants more details about you than it is prepared to offer about itself.  Look out, it’s phishing time.

8) Do the FAQs fail to answer your most basic concerns? EmpathUk’s FAQs look like they were written to tell you only what they want to tell you.

9) Can you find any history for this organisation or person online? A Google search turns up nothing for EmpathUk.  A genuine new organisation will know that if it has no history it has to make sure that at least its people are real, traceable and have a track record.

10) No useful contact details. No address, no phone number – just a single email address ‘peter.fayle@empathuk.org’. By chance, I did find the following via Google:

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Interestingly, note that none of this information is visible on EmpathUk’s website.  The phone number (above) is only visible on this particular Google summary and not on the page it links through to which (you’ll notice) isn’t EmpathUk’s website.

11) Were the website domains registered, er.. like yesterday? EmpathUk’s were.  Ok, that’s unfair.  They registered them two days ago.  On the 9th December 2009 to be exact.

12) Does your gut instinct tell you this is dodgy? If you trusted this, you wouldn’t be here checking.  Whatever you felt, you were probably right.

So there we are.  Is EmpathUk a scam?  As always, you decide.

If you are trying to do some good work for charity and you’re new in the game, then you’re going to have to work hard to give people confidence in who you are, what you’re doing and why.  EmpathUk fails 100% to do that for me – whatever its motivation.

Expo Guide and World Business Directory: Could Twitter kill off these nasty scams?

Nov 5 | by Sam Deeks | Scambusters!, Twitter, scam, scam warning
2 Comments

Could the wisdom of the business crowd decide the fate of Expo Guide and World Business Directory?

TwitterMonsterThe challenge

You’ve arrived here because of my Tweet about the Expo Guide and World Business Directory scams.  First of all, thanks for coming.  Second, I’d like to invite you to take part in an experiment.  Could Twitter kill these nasty scams stone dead?

Have a look at the evidence (below) and if you want to play a part in stopping these scammers, then please RT the Tweet that brought you here to people in your network and let’s see if we can help stop people getting ripped off.

The Scam

As some of you may already know the world of business is still being swept by a family of scams which deliberately set out to fool people into inadvertently signing expensive contracts they don’t want.  An early and well documented version of this is what’s known as the “Construct Data scam” originating from Austria.  The most recent variants of this scourge are European City Guide, Expo-Guide and World Business Directory.

How it works

  • You get a letter in the post (or email with pdf attachment) from the company.  It’s designed to make you think they’re offering you a free listing in their online directory.  It asks you to sign and stamp the form.  You do and send or email it back
  • Nothing happens for a while
  • A couple of months later you get a demand for something in the region of €3,000
  • Their demands direct you to the form where – for the first time – you notice to your horror the tiny, faint small-print saying “signing and stamping this form constitutes a contract for 3 years entry into our directory at c. €900 per year..”.
  • A couple of months later, you start getting various demands.  Eventually, you get formal letters from a debt collection agency.  Now you start to worry.  What if they take you to court?  What if your boss finds out?
  • You write back to the company saying it’s a rip-off and you don’t feel you should have to pay.  Eventually, they graciously agree to let you off with just one year’s fee out of three.  Maybe you pay up so you can put this whole traumatic episode behind you.

This scam has been running for years and shows no sign of stopping.  Why?  Because there will always be enough people out there who can be bullied or shamed into paying some – if not all – of this extortionate fee.

Governments seem to have little or no interest in stopping it.  Watchdogs aren’t particularly bothered.  It’s down to a few individuals like Jules Woodell to campaign against it – see http://stopecg.org/ and http://stopecg.blogspot.com/ for a thorough history of all the main mutations of this scam.  For my own posts on the subject (and to read more than 50 comments from victims) click here.  You’ll get some idea of the kind of worry and distress this scam causes.

This scam is real and current and it’s costing business people like you and me a lot of money, stress and worry.  This site gets 20+ new visitors every day searching for help on this issue – most of whom are new victims of the scam from all over the world.

Personal

For your information, I didn’t get stung personally by these scams (too long in the tooth!).  However, like millions of others, I regularly receive their scammy emails.  My motivation is to use the blog / Google platform to mess up their operation a bit and prevent others from being ripped off ;-)

Newsletter on holiday

Aug 28 | by Sam Deeks | Scambusters!, Twitter, news
No Comments

The Mu! newsletter has gone on holiday – thanks to all who subscribed

We’re taking a break from writing the newsletter for two reasons: firstly, our newsletter plugin has become extinct and secondly, we’re in a period of evolution here at mukaumedia.

breakThe plugin issue is typical of working in this kind of open-source blogging environment: a piece of software designed to add functionality made by a developer who then loses the motivation to upgrade his plugin in line with the development of the Wordpress platform.

The result is something that worked well for a couple of months progressively breaking down and becoming unusable.  Moral of the story?  Don’t bank on anything in the open source world.  Why? Because most people developing for it haven’t worked out how to ‘monetise’ what they’re doing.  No money, no customer service or inclination to support their software.

With regard to mukaumedia, some visitors will know that I’ve been working more and more with Delta7 Change Ltd in London.  That’s been hugely rewarding and exciting so it’s taken up a lot of my time and created the space to have a re-think about what we want to do with mukaumedia in the longer term.  We’re planning on a review towards the end of this year (ideally on a beach somewhere warm).

Meantime, this blog will still be the home of critical feedback (about all things digital, marketing and customer service).  Expect me to carry on the crusade against nasty online ripoffs like Expo Guide and World Business Directory as well as pointing out the kinds of do’s and don’ts that we’ve learned (usually the hard way!) from our 3 years in this business.

Once again, many thanks to those who’ve subscribed to our newsletter over the last year.  If you’d like to stay in the loop, then please feel free to follow me on Twitter here.

World Business Directory / Expo-Guide: no wonder they get away with it

Aug 1 | by Sam Deeks | GRRRR!!!, Scambusters!
No Comments

Why do scams like World Business Guide and Expo-Guide get away with their fraudulent behaviour?

Because not a single one of the UK’s major, publicly-funded agencies have any idea they exist.

A search on the following websites gave no results whatsoever: Serious Fraud Office, Metropolitan Police Service, SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency), Home Office, CIFAS, IC3.

This fraud (and variants of it) have been known about for years.  The best (and disgraceful to report – ONLY) resource online about this nasty form of scam is Jules Woodell’s ‘StopECG‘ site.  Despite repeated personal attacks, JW has continued to wage war on these people single-handed.

If you’ve been scammed by these people (who use forms designed to trick you into signing a contract for services you think are free but in fact cost around £1000 a year for three years) then you ought to be disgusted that no-one in authority has any idea about it.

The fact that it’s down to people like Jules Woodell and, to a much lesser extent me, to try to stop people being defrauded is a national disgrace.  What’s even more worrying is how unaware government, police and legislators in this country are in respect of these matters.  And while that is the case, expect to be ripped off at pretty much every turn.

As an amusing yet depressing footnote to this post, my quick search for official online fraud advice turned up this nasty piece of work (below) masquerading as helpful advice. Exploitation at £1.50 a minute or more.

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Online scams: time to be more vigilant

Jan 14 | by Sam Deeks | Scambusters!, scam warning
No Comments

Recession brings with it scammers looking to take advantage of you in tough times.

The harder the recession hits, the greater the need for vigilance against online scammers and exploiters of all shapes and sizes.  More and more are going to be aimed at businesses desperate for more customers and  ignorant of the online environment.

The last two we’ve seen take the form of ‘business directories’ that end up costing people (who thought they were getting a free listing) several thousands of pounds instead.

The threat this poses to businesses in a recession is obvious.  Scammers are going to be hungrier, sneakier, more resourceful and more aggressive than ever before so you need to start taking an interest in the kinds of scams that are going around to make sure you don’t fall victim to one of them.

If you’re approached with an ‘offer’ (whether on the street, through the post , or – more usually – via email) from a company you don’t know, do your ‘due diligence’.

The simplest way to do this is to use Google.  If you just search on ‘Joe Bloggs Ltd’ in Google you’ll probably just get what any scammer wants you to find about his company. Type ‘Joe Bloggs scam’ into Google and you’ll start to find interesting results pretty quickly.

Expo-guide: scam or not? You decide (we help you) *yawn*

Jan 12 | by Sam Deeks | Scambusters!, scam warning
156 Comments

Oh, look Expo-guide – another form suckering people into signing up for an expensive directory ‘insertion’

Boring isn’t it?  Well if you’re a victim of these scammers, you can help us prevent other people getting ripped off.  Read on!
demands
Last year, ExpoWest, a thoroughly reputable major UK exhibition organiser, started to alert its exhibitors to the danger that they might be approached by a company called ‘Expo-guide’.

Like World Business Directory, World Business Register and a surprisingly long list of similar scams, Expo-Guide sends out a form designed to deliberately fool you into signing a minimum 3 year contract for an entry in their directory (at a cost of around £1000 a year) when you’re under the impression you’re signing for a free listing in their business directory.  Wrong.

expo-guideClick on the thumbnails (left and below) to see the whole misleading form and a summary of the vital ’small print’ that you’re supposed not to notice. (And, yes, Expo-Guide, I have edited the close-up version of your small print so people can see what they’re missing.  For the full text, use the full version of the document).

pertinentPointsThis scam was raised in the European Parliament in 2006 (see the Busutill report_on_the ‘European City Guide’ ) but despite that, it’s still out there and it’s still big business.

It’s taken until now (9 or more years) for one of the companies behind one of the earliest versions of this scam (European City Guide) to be ruled against in the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.

That’s good news, but not good enough. These people just move their base, change the directory name and carry on.

If you’re one of the many people who have made that mistake of returning a signed form, the first you’ll know about it is when you receive the demand for payment, followed swiftly by letters from collections agencies piling on the ‘costs’ day by day.

It’s clear that the modus-operandi of the organisation behind these scams is to trick you into signing for 3 years contract, threaten you relentlessly until you pay the full amount or they ‘generously’ let you off with just having to pay 1 yr or it.   The success of this scam depends entirely on you being frightened enough to get into communication with them.

Why? Because people contacting them is their way of ‘qualifying’ prospects for their scam.  When you contact them, they know you’re frightened / ashamed enough to want a way out – and then they’ve got you.

Jules Woodell estimates that some 80% of the estimated 250,000 businesses that signed the European City Guide (just one of the many variants of this form) didn’t / won’t pay.  That leaves 20% presumably who will.  But even if only 1% of that 250,000 paid just 1 year of the 3 years fee, we’re still talking around about £250,000 extorted from small businesses.  This is a very big scam – and all it takes is the ability to email huge lists and employ ‘debt collectors’ to chase.

A quick Google search for ‘Expo Guide’ turns up plenty of evidence against these scammers.  The same applies to World Business Directory – although they’ve been a bit cleverer and made sure they flooded the first couple of pages of Google with their own innocuous references.  This search will show you what you really need to know.

If you want more detail, then this scam and a range of variants are fully documented on Jules Woodell’s excellent http://stopecg.org/ – an absolute must-read if you’ve been affected.

Sadly it seems we can expect more and more of these scams – particularly while banks seem completely indifferent to the nature of their clients’ activities in this field and so long as certain web hosting providers continue to turn a blind eye as well.

So. Expo-guide: scam or not?  You decide – and use the comments (below) to help you make up your mind.

World Business Directory: scam or not? You decide (we’ll help you)

Jan 11 | by Sam Deeks | GRRRR!!!, Scambusters!, The Mu Show, scam warning
47 Comments

Is the World Business Directory a scam? Depends on whether you feel £980 a year to advertise in its ‘directory’ is good value for your money or not.

Like me, you might receive this from World Business Directory.

The email comes with an attached pdf that you’re invited to fill in. For a free listing (yawn, please see my endless posts on the total lack of benefits of free listing in most legit directories!) the form invites you to fill in your company details.

Boxes at the bottom of the form invite your signature & co. stamp – reinforced by the words “please fill in the form completely” in bold.

One small sentence tells you only to sign the form if you want to place an ‘insertion’ – a deliberately uncommon word.

A dense pile of even smaller print tells you that signing the form constitutes a contract to place an ‘insertion’ at £980 per year – minimum period 3 years.

It’s up to you to decide whether you think this is a cynical fraud or not.

This might help you decide. I know where I stand and so do people of many other countries where this occurs (word for word). Click the thumbnail (left) for a detailed look at their form -and a spanish one for comparison.

This also might help you: a letter from MEP Sarah Ludford to one World Business Directory victim.  You might also like to see the letter that same victim then sent to the so-called ‘collections agency’ operating on behalf of WBD.  Nice one, Mary.

One thing’s for sure, if you rush ahead and sign and return this form thinking you’re going to get a Google-boost from this free directory listing, be prepared: you’ll end up with on of these (right)

What gets me is that Barclays Bank are happy to take the money. Nasty.

Here’s another variant of this scam offer.

[Update] Now operating out of Utrecht, Netherlands [Update]

Picture 5

World Business Directory: don’t sign the form

Jan 10 | by Sam Deeks | Scambusters!, scam warning
5 Comments

Don’t sign the World Business Directory form unless you want to lose £2940

This nasty piece of work arrived in my inbox today.

It appears to offer you the chance to ‘update’ your data for free on a business directory.

However, the small print says quite clearly:

THE SIGNING OF THIS DOCUMENT REPRESENTS THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING……THE VALIDATION TIME OF THE CONTRACT IS THREE YEARS….I HEREBY ORDER A SUBSCRIPTION….THE PRICE PER YEAR IS GBP 980.

You might want to ask yourself – what possible benefit could this company give you that’s worth £2940?  A quick Google on the company name ‘EU Business Services Ltd’ leads to this informative site.

Still, these people would say, you were warned. And they would be right. After all, it does say ‘only sign if you want to place an insertion’. Mind you, it also says “please fill in the form completely” in bold in an attempt to get you to sign.

Those who know me know how much I dislike online directories at the best of times. With a bit of luck this post will zip to the top of Google for anyone wondering about this so-called directory – and maybe stop one or two people falling for this cynical piece of work.