Have you ever received an invoice for a business directory listing that you never ordered? Perhaps you had experienced the following scenario.
You received a phone call from a telemarketing company claiming that someone (could be your ex-employee) from your office had previously authorized the purchase of business listing in a business directory, and they would like to verify your business information, such as company name, address, telephone and fax number. This so called verification would lead you to believe that your business has already been listed in their business directory.
Shortly, you received an invoice, typically between $399 and $798, in the mail or fax for your “order”. A few days or one week later, someone from the Account Receivables department called to collect the payment for your company listing. If you refused to pay the invoice, the caller would harrass you and even threatened to initiate a legal action against you, and also forwarded your invoice to a debt-collection agency that could damage your credit rating.
Well, if this scenario happened to you, please be on your guard. You could be a victim of a business directory scam.
Here are what you should do if you received a phone call from a collector:
1. Do NOT under any circumstances send these scammers money.
2. Tell him/her that you are not going to pay for the invoice, and let this scammer know that you are going to take the actions outlined in the step 3 and 4.
3. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission by visiting the the FTC website (http://www.ftc.gov) or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
4. Report the scam to your local Better Business Bureau and your state Attorney General.
Remember folks, you are NOT obliged to pay for services that you never requested or ordered. Last, your credit rating will NEVER be damaged/ruined just because of not paying this business directory scam.
To help you recognize this scam, here is a list of companies known to scam small businesses:
- ABI Publications
- B2B IPages – Chicago, IL
- Business Data Center – Plattsburgh, NY
- Canadian BizOnline
- Canadian Media Pages
- ClearView Corporate Communication, Inc. – Chicago, IL
- Canora Pages – Montreal, QC
- Commutel Marketing – Montreal, QC and Victoria, BC
- Empire Direct Group – Plattsburgh, NY
- DataSource411 – Montreal, QC and Rochester, NY
- Horizon Data Inc. – Champlain, NY
- Info US411 – Middletown, DE
- Infotel Publications – Montreal, QC
- National Business Information Exchange (NBIE) Inc. – Montreal, QC and Chesapeake Beach, MD
- Reed Publishing aka Reed Directories
- Target Publications – Ansonia, CT and Champlain, NY
- Tradeshow Data Center – Plattsburg, NJ
- YourCompanyListing.com (a spin off of NBIE Inc.) – Montreal, QC and Chesapeake Beach, MD
- YourYellowURL – Ottawa, ON and Watertown, MA
The list will go on and on… so please share with us if you know any of similiar companies.
160 Comments
October 14, 2009 at 5:48 pm
FOR THE PAST 3 DAYS I HAVE CONTACTED HOTWIREMEDIA.COM CLIENTS FRAUDULENTLY BILLED BY MATTHEW FRIEDMAN / WORLD VENDOR DIRECTORY. THEY ARE ALL DISPUTING WORLD VENDOR DIRECTORY CHARGES AND CANCELING THERE CREDIT CARDS. THESE CREDIT CARD FRAUD VICTIMS ARE HOTWIREMEDIA.COM CLIENTS THAT ARE BEING TOLD BY MATT FRIEDMAN “IT IS TIME TO RENEW THERE WEBSITES”. WORLD VENDOR DIRECTORY INC. WAS STARTED IN JUNE 2009, AFTER MATT QUIT HOTWIREMEDIA.COM AND STOLE MY CLIENT DATABASE AND CLIENT CREDIT CARD NUMBERS. WORLD VENDOR DIRECTORY DOES NOT PROVIDE A PRODUCT OR SERVICE. WORLD VENDOR DIRECTORY INC. WAS STARTED BY X-HOTWIREMEDIA.COM EMPLOYEE MATTHEW FRIEDMAN TO DEFRAUD HOTWIREMEDIA.COM CUSTOMERS, AND FOR THAT REASON ONLY.
PLEASE READ: http://www.hotwiremedia.com/fraud
October 13, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I got scammed by UBL. PLease be aware of these people. They make you think that you service with you that you have to renew and then they harass you and charge you up to $500 for what? I am still not sure. If you scammed and harrases by these guys, report them to the BBB and the FTC.
September 22, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I suggest everyone having this problem contact this company Bustabill at bustabill dot com. They deal with these scams for you and I mean they call them and have the invoice voided. They also provide you with an information booklet that tells you how to evade telemarketing scams. We used them and after only a week or so the calls have finally stopped.