Business Directory Renewal Scam

Wow, thank you so much.

It is refreshing to know there are still so many decent people around. I will spread the word

I was a victim to this yesturday at work thumbsdown, i had a phone call about 3.30, they said they were bailiffs working on behalf of business direct and i owed the sum of 7 thousand pounds, they were on there way to me to take possessions like my car !! i was in shock, questioning who they were what they were on about, the pressure was on , i said i will call the police if they came and tried to take my stuff, his reply was, the police will be coming with me.. they had an answer for everything, i requested the number of the person dealing with it from business direct,they gave me a mobile number belonging to an andrew Burton, again he was very convincing, he said we can take it to court if i wished and that he had a tape regording of me agreeing to the contact.he said he cant call the bailiffs off unless i make an imediate payment which he had now come down to 3,000, i was in a right state, scared to death, crying, shaking cause i thought have i done this, as i recognised the name, which wernt until later on in the night when i calmed down that i new why , they had tried to hit me for 240 pounds a year or so ago, but when your in shock you cant think straight . i was in 2 minds to pay him the 3,00 because if i never they would be chargin me the full 7,000 the following day, luckily someone came into the office, i told him what was happening, and he said its definatly a scam, so i called the police and they said it more than likely is aswell. so i didnt pay, and took me until about 9pm last night to calm down from it all, when we got into work this morning we tried the mobile number and it was no longer in use, ive forwarded all the information to trading standers, then this afternoon the scum bag called me again, which my reply was "f off and leave me alone" and i put the phone down, hoping to god not to hear from him again, it really scared the life out of me yesturday, what is this country coming too !!

Holy cow Clarerice, that's the worse one I've heard yet!

Thank god you didn't pay them. These people are just blood sucking parasites

Why on earth can't the Police dive and sort this out, pure illegal intimidation and fraud.

You have my sympathy. What many people don't realise is that these guys are confidence tricksters and, as you say, very convincing. I've had 4 or 5 calls since from different companies and I ask them for their name, contact no, etc. so I can call them back. I then pass it all through to Trading Standards who hopefully are doing something with it. Most of the numbers are probably fake but I live in hope that one of the scumbags will slip up and give themselves away.

Unfortunately Trading Standards are pretty stretched and these scams pop up, rip people off and then disappear before any legal wheels of justice have a chance to start grinding.

Best defence is to be on your guard and never agree to anything from an initial phone call. 5 minutes research will normally expose 99% of these scams.

I'll keep saying the same thing until I run out of breath! If it stops one person getting scammed, it's worth it...

In my case, Trading Standards have a case open, and have asked me to keep sending stuff through. All it takes is for one of these scammers to leave a genuine mobile no. (or forget to withhold their call, etc.) and you have a trail. This is the advice I've had from Trading Standards & CAB. Saying I'll call you back, I'm busy is also a great way to get them off your back and give you breathing space to do your research if you need to.

Had a heads up from different directory owners that this scam is still alive and well.

Same old message, trying to convince you to renew your directory over the phone, using pressure tactics.

Same old advice! Agree to absolutely nothing from a cold call and leave your credit card in your pocket!!!

If in any doubt or suspicious, ask for the directory website address, go and visit it, if you recognise it as being something you are a member of, then telephone them back using the number from that website.

Don't be a victim!

I've just had a call today 30th July 2014 about renewing our listing what we did with them last year, he didn't ask my name, but just asked if I was the person who dealt with the advertising.  His name was Paul and said he was from the UK Business finder, and he went through our details of address, company e-mail and website etc and said we had already made a part payment last year and we needed to make the final installment and we would be covered with another years free.  I said I didn't recall placing any advertisement with them and he asked me again if I dealt with this sort of thing, I said yes so he said he would re-send everything by e-mail to me to re-confirm what we had arranged last year and then would ring me back and he promptly put the phone down.  No e-mail has been received via the company account and he didn't ask for my name or e-mail so this seems like this scam has re-arose.

 

Hi Zoe & welcome to the forum.

Thanks for hi-lighting that these vermin are still out there 

Be on your guard people, as always like we have said time & time again - never pay for anything from a single cold call!