The email lottery scam begins with an email asking your attention that you have just won a lottery, and you need to contact a claims “agent” to collect your winning prize. When you contact the so-called agent by email, you are asked to identify yourself by submitting your personal information as well as copies of your passport and driving license. By doing so, the scammer will have enough information to steal your identity.

The scammer then sends you an email with three options on how you want to collect your prize:

• First, you may have the money wired to your bank account. If you choose this option, you will have to transfer upfront fees to the scammers in order to cover the taxes, insurance or even legal fees.
• Second, you may open a new account with the designated bank. If you choose this path, you will be forward to a bogus site setup by the scammer, and you will find out that an initial deposit of $3,000 is required to open an account.
• Third, you may personally pick up your winning prize. Usually the location of this scammer is somewhere in Europe. If you choose to go to this route, you will be asked to pay the “release fees” of the prize, and you’re likely to receive counterfeit money in return.

No matter which option you would choose, you’d always be falling into this scam. So, what’s the best way to deal with this email lottery scam? Simply delete this kind of email without replying. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The scammers send fake invoices ranging from $249 to $798 to businesses and list an address in the United States to make it appear they are an American company. The company is actually located in Canada, where consumers have little or no recourse. When businesses objected to the charges, the Manougs would send falsified “contracts” with faked signatures copied from prior correspondence.

“There is a whole industry built up around these business directory scams in Canada,” Stenehjem said. “Businesses should be on the lookout for questionable billings for services which they never requested and which are of virtually no value.”

Garo Manoug and his attorney have provided inconsistent explanations for the violations of North Dakota law and have refused to provide information requested by the Attorney General during the course of his investigation.

Court Document:

• Cease and Desist Order

  http://www.ag.nd.gov/NewsReleases/Pleadings/CPAT/NBIEC&D.pdf

• News Releases

  http://www.ag.nd.gov/NewsReleases/2006/10-11-06.pdf

Based on the court document, the respondents listed in the Cease and Desist Order are:

• VATCHE MANOUG, Individually;
• GARO MANOUG, Individually aka VINCENT THOMAS;
• CORPORATE INFORMATION EXCHANGE, INC.
  dba CINEX, INC. dba CINEXCORP
  dba YOURCOMPANYLISTING.COM dba YCL
  dba MAYSIX & CO.
  dba CAFE IGLOO.CA
• NATIONAL BUSINESS INFORMATION EXCHANGE, INC.
  dba NBIE
  600-1184 Rue Sainte-Catherine O.
  Montreal, QC H3B 1K1 Canada
  514-337-7776
  800-765-0508
  800-765-0193 (fax)
  and
  6993 Place De Nevers
  Montreal, QC H4K 1E4 Canada
  and
  6226 4th St.
  Chesapeake Beach, MD 20732
• c/o Morris Chaikelson, Esq.
  4950 Ponsard Ave.
  Montreal, QC H3W 2A5 Canada
  514-482-1896

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.

Well, there is a new type of phishing scam that uses voice over ip (VoIP): vishing. Instead of sending you email containing links to the scammers’ websites, vishers use the telephone via VoIP. These scammers will call you and pretend that they are your bank or financial institution and inform you that there is a problem with your account and you need to call a certain number to straighten it. When you call the given number, you will then be asked to enter your account number and password in order to proceed talking to an operator.

So, how to avoid this vishing? Never call the phone number you were instructed to. Instead, try calling your bank directly or simply go to your bank and ask whether or not there is a problem in your account.

The dude then sent the $6,000 cashier check to the landlord and requested that she sent the $2,500 back so that he could move immediately. Lucky for the landlord. She deposited the $6,000 check, but did not send the $2,500 back. A week later, she was notified by the bank that the check was “item returned counterfeit”.

Although most of these scam artists claim to be from the U.K., you have to be cautious all the time whenever someone would like send you a cashier’s check and request you to send part of the money back to him/her. Just contact your local FBI office found at www.fbi.gov