Phony directories or yellow page scams usually target small to medium sized businesses. The scam manifests itself in the form of solicitors calling businesses and seeking to verify the company’s name and physical location, and allegedly calling to “renew” or “re-enroll” an existing yellow pages listing or advertisement.

Many companies are misled into accepting the alleged “renewals.” The illegitimate directory provider immediately sends an invoice for this service, usually in the amounts between $500 and $900 dollars, and threatens businesses with collections or credit report damage should they dispute the charges or decline to pay.

Don’t be taken into this scam this is theft and its illegal!

This scam does get worse. Lets say you do pay one of these companies either using your credit card or by cheque, little do you know they reprocess your card a year later because they have all the info on file not only that but then they turn around and sell your company profile to another telemarketing office with your credit card information for a generous profit. They will even be bold enough to send you a final invoice to close off the account just around the time your getting your new credit card (as all cards are renewed after a few years)

If you’ve paid by cheque, what happens is a shocking discovery. Not only do they take your checking information, they get authorization to withdraw from the account many months later and send you a notice claiming they’ve taken fees for online services.

There are limits on how far telemarketers can go, that is why we provide information on how to put an end to telemarketer calls and more efficiently, how to correspond with them about your account and/or to dispute a collection action and can teach you what are your rights in terms of privacy.

You can find out more information on our website: http://www.spgconsultants.com

By informing each other, we protect each other