WARNING! Directory Entry Scam

apex

I can't believe that because somebody (booler in this case) tries to offer a friendly warning/advice in the off-chance that it may help someone that a some people feel that gives them some divine right to ridicule and criticise.

If those involved feel the post is a joke then simply move along - no one asked for your opinion.

Booler, thanks for the post and confirmation that it's a widespread issue rather than I have been specifically targetted.

I received one of these letters today and whilst I always excercise caution and wouldn't expect to fall for such scams, good diligence is to check for other examples in case there's some hidden catch (such as a recent adaptation that requires some action or opt-out for example) - better safe than sorry as they say

booler

Thanks Apex.

bod1467

booler wrote: »

I put it on the techie board because I wasn't sure where it fitted and a search revealed that this is where previous threads of a similar nature had been posted. Can you suggest somewhere better?

Bit late now, but should have been in Praise, Vent & Warnings.

kirtlan123

Hi all,

Unfortunately our company fell for this scam and are now receiving letters asking us to pay up. We only filled in the form because it was very similar to the HMRC forms and we thought it was a requirement.

Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid paying?

zappahey

apex wrote: »

I can't believe that because somebody (booler in this case) tries to offer a friendly warning/advice in the off-chance that it may help someone that a some people feel that gives them some divine right to ridicule and criticise.

Perhaps one reaps what one sows and if the OP posts an irrelevant thread in a techie topic then they shouldn't get a bit snippy when someone adds something useful in the second post.

charlest44

kirtlan123 wrote: »

Hi all,

Unfortunately our company fell for this scam and are now receiving letters asking us to pay up. We only filled in the form because it was very similar to the HMRC forms and we thought it was a requirement.

Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid paying?

My company fell for this scam too. Can we just ignore the threatening letters? Have any of you heard of the scam company ever following through with legal proceedings?

thanks in advance.....

kirtlan123

charlest44 wrote: »

My company fell for this scam too. Can we just ignore the threatening letters? Have any of you heard of the scam company ever following through with legal proceedings?

thanks in advance.....

Hi,

We have done a lot of research and contacted trading standards and haven't heard of any legal action being taken.

We are just continuining to ignore the letters, will update you if we have any further news.

booler

zappahey wrote: »

Perhaps one reaps what one sows and if the OP posts an irrelevant thread in a techie topic then they shouldn't get a bit snippy when someone adds something useful in the second post.

The on-going interest in the thread would tend to confirm that it is NOT irrelevant.

Perhaps it should have been in another topic but I explained why I put it here earlier. Did you miss that?

Mr_Toad

booler wrote: »

The on-going interest in the thread would tend to confirm that it is NOT irrelevant.

Perhaps it should have been in another topic but I explained why I put it here earlier. Did you miss that?

Most of the interest, and oddly enough support, is from new accounts, perhaps the rest of us suspect that they were set up for just that reason.

As someone with a proper ID pointed out, anyone in a position to authorise such a payment to what is an old and easily checked scam should be dismissed.

booler

If you think I have the time or the inclination to solicit support for something like this your opinion should be dismissed.

The new people have obviously been searching for information on this and have came across this page, which indicates that my warning was valid.

Many small business people are not all that clued up on scams like that and can be easily taken in. That is why the scammers exist.