Beware of False Registrars!
Registration letters or bills from fraudulent directory providers find their way to companies again and again. They look official, so you think that they come from a professional organisation, such as the Commercial Register. Should you put your signature, in a couple of days you receive a handsome invoice. We will show you what to do.
Insidious Scam of False Registrars
It is usually small companies that false registrars and directory operators try to sell costly entries in their useless industry registers. In most cases they contact companies by letter or fax, but less often by phone, too. The letter looks official, and its layout generally much resembles that of a real authority: you think that you have received a communication from the Commercial Register, an industry directory, or a phone book. Recipients are typically requested to verify their address and return the form. Others append an already completed payment slip. But the small letters hide a cost trap because in a couple of days you receive a heavy bill and you realise only now that you have signed a contract. If you refuse to pay it, some crooks threaten you with a debt enforcement procedure.
What Can You Do Against It?
Better be careful than sorry! Therefore, carefully inspect each such letter and tell your personnel to do the same thing too. Always read the General Terms & Conditions. If in doubt, make sure that the letter is really legitimate. Otherwise you can dispose of it.
If you receive a bill because you happened to sign a contract, you immediately have to contest it by registered letter. When doing so, refer to error of fact or deliberate deception. All subsequent correspondence from the false registrar can be ignored.
If a debt enforcement procedure is launched against you, you have ten days to file a legal objection. And help others by reporting the false registrar’s unfair competition practices to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) using this form.
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