Thank you to Chris who sent me a copy of the England Commercial Register scam letter (a copy of which is below), relating to the Commercial Register scam. This scam has many different guises (see Scottish Commercial Register scam and England Commercial Register Scam) but the way it works is almost identical.
Basically, the people behind the England Commercial Register scam are based in Spain and send a letter to companies (usually sole traders and small businesses) hoodwinking people into signing a letter which looks official. Once you’ve signed, they send you a bill for advertising on their websites.
First of all, let’s take a look at the general layout of the letter. It certainly attempts to look official. Let’s have a look at some of the points in more detail.
[AdSense-A]
A – ‘Publication of Companies’ gives the impression it is related to Companies House
B – ‘Filing Deadline’ attempts to give the impression that the document has to be returned by a specific date to ensure a listing occurs
C – ‘Removal of your Company Details’ suggests that you have something to lose. Actually, you only have a lot of time to waste by completely the form!
D – The opening paragraph suggests that you have some official deadline to meet
E – The final paragraph, which contains confirmation that this is a private company, is in the middle of the paragraph. It also confirms that Direct Publisher at targeting businesses and not private individuals. This is because Direct Publisher know that the law provides much more protection to private individuals rather than businesses.
Note: there has been some suggestion that you could send the pre-addressed envelope back to Direct Publisher full of rubbish. Don’t waste your time as Royal Mail have confirmed they won’t forward it on.
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We just receivced the same letter, S@!t myself when I unopened at first!
received the same letter today from chief editor 732/173cx, what joke. Pays to search before you sign any documents :)
Same here, just received the exact same letter. Thought it was official until I read it; had to laugh when I noticed it was signed off by the 'Chef Editor'
Hi. We to have been scammed,
We received the same letter. So glad I googled it. It looks official but there are spelling/grammatical errors, the best of which is the signature Chef editor! I have put it in the bin!
Just received one of these, and had a very good laugh, knew it was a scam, England commercial register and admin in France, and signed off by the Chef editor!! Please I have been in business to long for this rubbish
Sadly, there are many who haven't. Thanks for sharing your experience.
it's 'too' ......
Point is that people still fall for these scams in every guise. I get fed up advising my clients of these and just cannot believe how people sign forms - send them off - and then ask someone like myself what it was for afterwards.
thank you for informing me about this scam.
what now i am going to do is return the post paid envelop with a lot of junk inside to also increase the weight and the company gets surcharged by the post office.
also it will benefit royal mail as i am a share holder
everyone should do the same as in a small way it will also create a job for the post man
fantastic idea, will do the same
A few years ago we nearly fell for the same trick with 'European City Guide'. Great idea Raj, one full envelope on it's way to France.
superb idea, I am doing the same
Had one too. Glad I found this site, although wouldn't have replied as it looked fishy anyway.
i got this today thought it was a scam so i too will be sending the pre paid envolope back with some karndean samples to make the wieght up
Thanks to all for the info .... just filled mine with shredded paper !!
Just received this letter today, another scam to con money out of small businesses, letter went straight in the bin
Just do as I've done... put a post it note in the return envelope saying 'Ho! Ho! Happy Christmas' and put it back in the post to them. Isn't it nice to speard some goodwill?
Just received this very letter today for our business. Noticed the reply envelop had a Spanish address and so got straight onto Google.
Read to the very bottom and if signed and returned to them we would have agreed to pay up almost £1000 p.a!
Thanks Steve, I have done exactly that same as you, ho ho ho!
Fantastic idea Raj.
I'm going to do the same and a little bit extra by filling up the form with some funny notes they will love it