In the past number of years there have been an increasing number of Irish businesses targeted by several European based companies exercising dubious business practices relating to business directory entries. These companies are sending letters, which are in fact order forms that invite companies to correct their name and address for a free entry in an international directory. However, by actually signing the form and returning it in the small print the companies are agreeing to pay in the region of €700 plus for this entry and are in most cases signing up to this agreement for a period of 3 years or more.

Companies operating this business directory scam include: the European City Guide from Valencia, Spain, Construct Data Verlag AG (also known as the Fariguide) from Vösendorf, Austria and TVV Verlag GmbH from Hamburg, Germany and Nova Channel AG, Switzerland.

Construct Data Verlag (The Fairguide)
Construct Data is perhaps the first scam of its kind to target a niche market. You will only encounter The Fairguide if you exhibit in large trade fairs. They send a misleading mailshot to exhibitors with the name of the trade fair the exhibitor attended thus many mistakenly consider it to be a communication from the fair organiser. The Fairguide offer free advertising space in the trade fair directory. However, the small print means that firms who sign and return the enclosed form – even if simply amending or adding to the details provided – are committed to paying almost €1,000 a year for 3 years for entries into the directory.

A German court ruled in June 2004 that Construct Data Verlag contravened the German Criminal Code, and a similar ruling given by an Austrian court in January of this year found the Construct Data mailing to breach the Austrian Advertising Code. Construct Data Publishers Verlag were also asked to ensure that all future advertising should state payment obligations clearly and prominently and that its advertising should not mislead by ambiguity. However, the trader continues to distribute the mailing unchanged.

This is significant in that it shows Construct Data are aware of the misleading nature of their forms this would make it almost impossible for them win a judgement on the so called debts in court

Any company affected by this scam should contact the following authorities in Austria.

Bundesminister für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (BMWA)
Dr. Martin BARTENSTEIN
Stubenring 1, A-1010 Wien, Austria
E-Mail: minister@bmwa.gv.at

Department for Competition
BMWA
Abteilung C1/6, Dampfschiffstraße 4, 1030 Wien, Austria

Any complaints regarding this subject can be copied to Burger Scheidlin who is head of white-collar crime in Austria. He can be emailed at maximilian.burger-scheidlin@wko.at

The European City Guide (ECG)
This is one of the longest scams in operation and has affected and targeted more companies than any other. The ECG send mailshots to companies asking them to correct their address but again by signing and returning the form the company is contracting to pay the ECG €937 for 3 years. The company operating in Spain have already been fined and closed in Barcelona for misleading advertising however, the company simply moved to a new region of Spain and is plying the same trade all over again! While the small print is marginally larger it appears no real effort has been made by the ECG to stop the situation where people mistakenly sign thinking they are getting a free entry.
British watchdog done a feature on this and their advice to companies was not to pay! The ECG have never taken a so called debtor to court on the basis of its contracts, this is a scam based on threats!

Dirección General de Comercio (Regional Government of Valencia)
Mr. Gregorio Lleó Alamá
C/ Colón, 32
46004 Valencia
Spain

Tel. 0034 96 3869608
Fax. 0034 96 3869642
E-mail: gregorio.lleo@industria.m400.gva.es

You should copy your correspondence to the central coordinating body

Instituto Nacional del Consumo
(Ms. Lourdes Dietta)
C/ Principe de Vergara 54
E-28006 Madrid
Spain
E-mail: lourdes.dietta@consumo-inc.es

NovaChannel AG
NovaChannel is a relative newcomer in the field of scams targeting businesses, the Swiss company was first registered in 2000. NovaChannel targets businesses in the travel and tourism sector by way of direct mail offering to publish their details in a Directory on a CD-Rom which can be purchased on their website.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Switzerland has already submitted a request for proceedings to be launched against the directory company NovaChannel AG and the debt collection agencies OVAG International AG and Premium Recovery AG. A publication on this was published by SECO and is available on their website www.seco.admin.ch/publikationen .

If you have been targeted by this scam address your complaint to the following authorities in Switzerland.

State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco)
Legal Affairs
Effingerstrasse 1
3003 Berne
Switzerland.

E-mail: fair-business@seco.admin.ch
Fax: + 41 31 324 09 56
Website: http://www.seco.admin.ch

Web Company Register
One of the newest companies to operate a scam targeting businesses is the Web Company register. The Spanish based company operates similar to the afore mentioned companies by sending businesses mailshots – these appear to offer the businesses free advertising but in the small print you are signing up to a three year contract costing you over €1,500.

Advice:
If your company has been the victim of any of these scams you may report the company for misleading advertising to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland by emailing info@asai.ie, visiting www.asai.ie, by writing to The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland, IPC House, 35-39 Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4 or by telephoning (01) 6608 766.

While you can report it to the advertising standards authority of Ireland, there is little they can do if the complaint does not relate to an Irish company, so all companies should report it to the relevant authorities (as outlined above) in the country concerned. If sending an official complaint, we recommend you keep your letters short, polite and factual and outline why you deem the advertising to be misleading. Include copies of all correspondence you have had with the company and with their debt collecting agents. You should send high quality photocopies and should keep your original correspondence on file. Keep a copy of all correspondence. If you have lost or destroyed any documents please note this in your letter of complaint. Please note the time and content of any phone calls that may have taken place between you also. None of the above companies have ever been known to bring a company to court for not paying this money.

These scams are ongoing – please advise all your staff to read all mailshots carefully before signing anything. The directory scam is not unique, many other scams exist including telephone scams whereby businesses have been sold useless credit card rolls, advertising space on wall planners for charity organisations that don’t exist, etc.

If you require any further information on any of the companies operating these scams you can contact Laura or Cathy in Sligo European Information Centre on 071-9140017/9161274 or email eic@sligochamber.ie