Sunday 18 December 2011

The World Business Guide are still at it

The World Business Guide, an online directory scam, is still at it. Emails are arriving like this:
"Dear Madam/Sir,

I am writing to enquire regarding the status of payment for the invoice no. 103971, issued for your insertion into the 2011/2012 Edition of the World Business Guide you have ordered on behalf of [company name].

The due date of this invoice was the 28th of November, 2011.

Our Credit Department will issue on Monday, the 19th of December, 2011 a Reminder towards your company.

Payment should be made within 7 days after the date of the reminder (In case of additional late payment we will charge you EUR 99,- Late Payment Fee and EUR 35,- Administration Fee).

Be kind and send us attached by e-mail or by fax the proof of payment as soon as the invoice is paid, in order to avoid the above-mentioned additional fees.

Bank Details:
IBAN: BG17UNCR70001519985205
SWIFT: UNCRBGSF
A/c#: 1519 9852 05

Thank you for your time and cooperation.

Best regards,

Ms Dana
Accounting Department
Tel: +34 91 188 1696
Fax: +34 91 791 9167"
Of course this is ALL LIES. There are no extra fees, there is no actual contract between you and these crooks. That's because they deceived you into joining their directory in the first place. Critically, despite their threats, they have NEVER taken legal action against anyone for non-payment, presumably because they know a judge would laugh at them.

Finally, some geographical curiosities:
  • They claim to be "a corporation organized and existing under the laws of BVI" (British Virgin Islands, a well known tax and scam-haven).
  • The phone number they give is in Spain.
  • Their postal addresses are post boxes in Spain and the Netherlands.
  • Their web site was registered on 14th October 2008 to an address in Spain.
  • The bank account they want you to use is in Bulgaria.
If you get an email from them either delete it immediately or reply and tell them where they can put their demands.

1 comment:

Flordelyn said...

The International Bank Account Number BG17UNCR70001519985205 with Swift code UNCRBGSF is under this bank:

Unicredit Bulbank AD, 7 Sveta Nedelya SQ. City Sofia 1000, Bulgaria

Is there anything that can be done legally to have the bank cancel/close this account? This is what these crooks use to scam people.