Webcompanyregister

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi all,
Has anyone else ever received a (paper!) letter from webcompanyregister.com? They offer to put your site/company in their directory, if you fill out the form and send it back. The small print says it costs 877 euros! hock:

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

sounds fishy!

[Magnus]

definately sounds fishy!

[jvrjenivs]

For only Euro 876 (a year) I will put a link on [url:33fy1nyb]http://www.thebestwebsitesabouttheromanarmyonthewholeworldwideweb.com[/url]

[Susanne]

Definitely fishy!

[Praefectusclassis]

Yes, I decided same and tore up the paper. Still, it's good to discuss it for other webmasters perhaps.

[Robert Vermaat]

You could have informed the proper authorities - they love to have feedback from the public where it come to fraud.

[Praefectusclassis]

I'm not sure it is actually fraud or simply a worthless service that costs a lot.

[Carlton Bach]

I'm not sure it is actually fraud or simply a worthless service that costs a lot.

I guess that would be for the public prosecutor to decide. I'd definitely forward it to the authorities. It's well beyond merely overpricing, especially given the deliberate effort to hide the price.

[spyros]

A municipality, which ia a client of the company I work, fell for it, (without reading the small print). They were not very happy about it :roll:

[Cornelius Quintus]

Ave Jasper,

that game is going on in Germany since ten years, with different 'players'.

The most common variant is sending a pseudo 'invoice' which in fact is an offer for a contract. They prefer a design similar to known registers like yellow pages and so on. Often spread in holiday times, a lot of company staff members pay that 'invoice' and when the boss is coming back from vacation, his money is lost...

Usually, there's a dummy register which nobody knows, just to 'prove' that it is no total fraud, but a real existing service. (And save the gangster from being easily sued...)

That's 'phishing' not for compliments, but for contracts. The 'classic' pre-internet paper version seems to work for a target group without internet knowledge (or a good spam filter)....

[Robert Vermaat]

I'm not sure it is actually fraud or simply a worthless service that costs a lot.

\\
Yes, it's fraud. I've been dealing with these scams before. They count on most big companies not bothering with 'small' bills and finding out who ordered what - so usually they pay. And the scammers rake in thousands that way!

[Praefectusclassis]

Hmmm. Well, I guess you are right. Pity I threw away the bill immediately.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Gadsook! Though the fact that they do not come up when you try their website, should also be a good indicator, if not totally foolproof! There are so many different scams going on today, with the web their oyster!
Makes you mad!