Another variation on a theme from our old favourites EU Business Services Ltd, the people behind the World Business List scam, is starting to hit people’s inboxes this week.
Don’t be fooled, this is another scam.
If you receive one of these emails, delete it immediately!
The email comes with a .pdf attachment, which when you open it looks like this;
It all looks very official, right up to the point where you see the terms and conditions just beneath the large word saying ‘ORDER’.
If you read that bit carefully, which is pretty hard to do without some kind of magnifying device, then it actually tells you there is a cost to this.
The cost is €995 a year for three years. And there’s no way of getting out of the contract.
Now, we’re not the first to expose this as the good people at the legitimate European Business Registry Association have a warning on their website about this sharp practice.
In short, it’s a scam.
This scam relies on the email being received by someone in the organisation who is busy and thinking this is a great opportunity to get something for free (it says ‘updating is free of charge’) and filling the form in.
The minute they receive a signed order form, then you enter their email work stack, which starts by sending you an invoice.
If you don’t pay you will get more and more threatening emails and letters in the hope you will cough up.
This becomes a relentless hounding with escalating threats of court action through fictitious Debt Recovery agencies.
As we’ve said before, what they are doing is not illegal (though it should be) and were this to be tested by a decent contract lawyer in court I expect they would destroy the validity of this contract.
So, the bottom line is don’t sign it and send it back.
If you already have, then you could join the ever-growing body of companies who have simply refused to pay.
Behind all this is a series of different trading names going back over ten years, but in its current iteration, the principal name is a company called by EU Business Services Ltd. They are are also using the names World Business List, World Company Register, Global Business Registry and now EU Business Register.
If you try to check out their website you will find it looks very strange;
Interestingly, even McAfee has a downer on these people and marks the website as dangerous to visit.
The reality is it is dangerous; to your wallet.
Sign and return this form and you will enter a world of trouble so please, delete anything from these people that come into your inbox.
