World Company Register – Email Scam

I received an email today

“Dear Madam/Sir,

In order to have your company inserted in the World Company Register for 2013/2014, please print, complete and submit the attached form (PDF file) to the following address

WORLD COMPANY REGISTER
P.O. BOX 3079
3502 GB UTRECHT
THE NETHERLANDS

Fax: +31 205 248 107

Updating is free of charge.”

It’s the “Updating free of charge” bit that makes this something to beware of because the Updating may be free but the insertion is not!  I quote, (highlighted in blue) from the small print on their PDF form :

“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.WORLDCOMPANYREGISTER.COM. THE SIGNING IS LEGALLY BINDING AND GIVES YOU THE RIGHT OF AN INSERTION IN THE ONLINE DATABASE OF THE WORLD COMPANY REGISTER, WHICH CAN BE ACCESSED VIA THE INTERNET, AND A CD ROM WITH WORLDWIDE BUSINESSES IS GRANTED, ALL IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONTRACT CONDITIONS STATED IN “THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR INSERTION” ON WEB PAGE WWW.WORLDCOMPANYREGISTER.COM. 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 INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORIES GROUP LTD “WORLD COMPANY REGISTER”. 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.WORLDCOMPANYREGISTER.COM“

Diabolical, underhand and just downright sneaky, so your Free Update becomes a three year contract at 995 euros a year!  That is just over £850 at todays exchange rates, and look at what you agree to in the event of a dispute “THE PLACE OF JURISDICTION IN ANY DISPUTE ARISING IS THE SERVICE PROVIDER’S ADDRESS” that make it in THE NETHERLANDS !

So the lesson here is steer well away from this World Company Register as it is just another email scam and if someone offers you a “gift horse” you make sure you carefully check those teeth.