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Email Scam: Did you receive an Email claiming In order to have your company inserted in the World Business List for 2019/2020, please print, complete and submit the attached form (PDF file)
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Have You Received a Scam Email?
World Business List,
"In order to have your company inserted in the World Business List for 2019/2020, please print, complete and submit the attached form (PDF file)"
Did you receive an email from World Business List, claiming "In order to have your company inserted in the World Business List for 2019/2020, please print, complete and submit the attached form (PDF file)"? Did they then instruct you to "complete and submit the attached form, PDF" or something similar?
Well, don't fall for it. It is a scam, and if you send in the
form, you will receive a bill for 995 Euros (around $1,000 US).
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Report received, January 30, 2019:
From: WBL [mailto:register@eu-register.eu]
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2019 10:47 PM
Subject: World Business List 2019/2020Hello,
In order to have your company inserted in the World Business List for 2019/2020, please print, complete and submit the attached form (PDF file) to the following address:
World Business List
P.O. BOX 34
3700 AA ZEIST
THE NETHERLANDS
Fax: +31 205 248 107
You can also scan the completed form and attach it in a reply to this email.
Updating is free of charge.
The attached form, a PDF includes the following:
Notice the price, which we highlighted below, taken from the form at right.
We are a business directory outfit in the process of collecting information about World
businesses for the World Business List. We are gathering information about your field(s) of
activity, language(s) spoken in your company and standard contact information with the
purpose of facilitating contacts between you and potential customers and business partners.
If you are interesed in listing your company in our online directory, please fill in and return the
form. Feel free to provide any additional material that would help identify, represent and
individualise your company better such as supplemental contact information (and)(/or) brief
company description (and)(/or) history.
We are looking forward to our potential cooperation and thank you for your time.
ORDER
THE SIGNING OF THIS DOCUMENT REPRESENTS THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS AND THE CONDITIONS STATED IN "THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR INSERTION" ON WEB PAGE: WWW.WORLD BUSINESSLIST.NET THE SIGNING IS LEGALLY BINDING AND GIVES YOU THE RIGHT OF AN INSERTION IN THE ONLINE DATABASE OF THE WORLD BUS INESS LIST WHICH CAN BE ACCESSED VIA THE INTERNET, ALL IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONTRACT CONDITIONS STATED IN "THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR INSERTION" ON WEB PAGE: WWW.WORLDBUSINESSLIST.NET. THE VALIDATION TIME OF THE CONTRACT IS THREE YEARS AND STARTS ON THE EIGHTH DAY AFTER SIGNING THE CONTRACT. THE INSERTION IS GRANTED AFTER SIGNING AND RECEIVING THIS DOCUMENT BY THE SERVICE PROVIDER. I HEREBY ORDER A SUBSCRIPTION WITH SERVICE PROVIDER EU BUSINESS SERVICES LTD. "WORLD BUSINESS LIST". I WILL HAVE AN INSERTION INTO ITS DATABASE FOR THREE YEARS. THE PRICE PER YEAR IS EURO 995. THE SUBSCRIPTION WILL BE
AUTOMATICALLY EXTENDED EVERY YEAR FOR ANOTHER YEAR, UNLESS SPECIFIC WRITTEN NOTICE IS RECEIVED BY THE SERVICE PROVIDER OR THE SUBSCRIBER TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE EXPIRATION OF THE SUBSCRIPTION. YOUR DATA WILL BE RECORDED. THE PLACE OF JURISDICTION IN ANY DISPUTE ARISING IS THE SERVICE PROVIDER'S ADDRESS. THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE SERVICE PROVIDER AND THE SUBSCRIBER IS GOVERNED BY THE CONDITIONS STATED IN "THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR INSERTION" ON WEB PAGE: WWW.WORLDBUSINESSLIST.NET
It is a scam
Don't fall for it. It is a scam. They say thge "updating is free"... but the fine print says the listing itself is not. It's pretty pathetic scamn, really. But would would you even submit to it, even if it were free? Have you ever heard of the "World Business List". Of course not, it does not exist in any meaningful way.
What to do
Just ignore it and delete the email. Do not click on anything in the email.
Apple offers the following advice:
If you get a suspicious Email:
Scammers spoof phone numbers and use flattery and threats to pressure you into giving them information, money, and even iTunes gift cards. Always verify the caller's identity before you provide any personal information. If you get an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Apple, hang up and contact us directly.
Tech support scams are an industry-wide issue where scammers use scare tactics to trick you into paying for unnecessary technical support services that supposedly fix contrived device, platform, or software problems.
Scammers may call you directly on your phone and pretend to be representatives of a software company. They might even spoof the caller ID so that it displays a legitimate support phone number from a trusted company. They can then ask you to install applications that give them remote access to your device. Using remote access, these experienced scammers can misrepresent normal system output as signs of problems.
Cybercriminals don't just send fraudulent email messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software license. Once they have access to your computer, they can do the following:
Trick you into installing malicious software that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove this software.
More information
There are several websites that focus on reports of scam Emails.
The links below go to pages on these other websites were you can read reports about the scams associated with this phone number (855-687-1444, claiming This is Microsoft. This call is to inform you that your Microsoft license key has expired):
- Microsoft Safety and Security Center
- Microsoft Community - Windows Support Scam - I was called by someone who said they were windows support and my computer was sending them warnings and messages!
- ARS Technica
Related Scams
There are a number of common telephone scams, such as:
and some new and as yet, uncommon scams.
Information About Specific Phone numbers
There are several websites that focus on reports of scam Emails. See these:
What to do about it
See these pages for guidance as applicable to your specific situation:
- If you are certain you don't owe a debt: What to do about harassing Emails
- If you may owe a debt: Debt collection Emails - what they may do, what the may not do and how to stop them
- If you are being harassed by the collector: file a compliant against a debt collector with the FTC - Use this form to submit a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection about a particular company or organization..
- How to stop telemarketers
For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.