I believe it is my duty to get this information out to as many people as I can. Please comment or contact me if you have been affected by this scam.
I have been scammed by an organisation claiming that I placed advertisements in their guide books back in February. I have received numerous phone calls from these organisations alleging that I spoke at length with them about my advertisements.
The company behind these scams is called Adepto Publications with ABN: 33091354522
They are cold calling businesses who placed legitimate advertisements in the Queensland Police Legacy Children's Handbook (QPLCH) at the start of the year. The QPLCH is a legitimate charity and organisation and should not be confused or associated with Adepto Publications in any way.
The first guide book to call me at the start of April was "The Underprivileged Children's Guide" (UCG) who asserted that I had placed an advertisement with them back at the end of January. Thinking that this was somehow linked to the QPLCH I noted that I must have given my authority and they sent a copy of a guide book along with an invoice.
I paid the invoice, totalling $423.50 via direct debit without a second thought, which was for a 1/4 page advertisement. The fact that they actually sent me a copy of the guide book showing my advertisement lead me to believe that I must of authorised this to happen and didn't think any more of it.
Then a couple of weeks later at the end of April I received another phone call from an organisation called "The Volunteer Organisations Guide" (VOG) who again asserted that I had authorised an advertisement in their guide. This was the first time I questioned them and said I was sure I'd just paid something like this and I had no recollection of ever talking to anyone from VOG. They again insisted that I spoke to one of their representatives at length back in February.
VOG sent me an invoice and a copy of their guide book, again showing my advertisement clearly printed. I was very angry and confused at this point but didn't want any debt associated with my name or business so I again paid the invoice, totalling $437.80. This time however I was contacted a couple of times by a VOG representative to make sure payment had been made. I was quite abrupt with them on the phone and told them yes I had paid and to stop calling me and take me off their lists.
I was contacted by a supervisor who informed me that I had now been taken off their calling lists and would not be contacted again. I slept well that night knowing that I wouldn't have to fork out any more payments for advertisements.
It should also be noted that when I pressed these callers for more information they were unable to provide me details of the conversation I had or where they allegedly distribute these guide books.
I have since noticed that at the top of the supposed invoice reads "This is a solicitation not an invoice for a debt incurred by you" and on further investigation I have found out that they are in fact soliciting payments and not requesting that a debt be paid.
I also checked the direct debit banking information I had been given to make the payments. They were both identical bank account details. This made me even more suspicious that something was not right.
This brings me to this week when I had a call from "The Emergency Services Relief Guide" (ESRG) who again told me that I had placed an advertisement with them. This is when something really started to go off in my head and I knew something wasn't right. I am now waiting for their invoice to show in my mail box with a copy of this guide they allege I advertised in. I will report back here about this one later if I do receive anything.
I have since had another call from a supervisor from ESRG and I stopped the lady talking right away. I asked one very simple question. "What is your company's ABN" to which she replied she didn't have that information on hand and would get back to me. Alarm bells were now sounding very loudly in my head, what kind of supervisor does not know the ABN of the company they work for, very strange indeed.
After the ESRG contacted me I decided enough was enough and so I started doing a bit of research. Simply typing "The Underprivileged Children's Guide" into a Google search yielded a lot of results. This blog link in particular shows that many, many people have been caught out by this scam.
I then went into the Cairns District Police Headquarters to lodge a statement. The officer at the front desk was polite but said there wasn't too much they could do until they had more information. He called one of the numbers listed for VOG and they said a director would call him back. He took my details and said he would call me if he heard anything. I will report back here with any information on that investigation also.
When I got home I called the ACCC who knew exactly what I was talking about and said they had been flooded with calls about this very issue. So my advice is that if you have been receiving these scam calls is to contact the ACCC immediately and report the issue. I now have an open file with the ACCC and a case number. They couldn't have been more helpful and sympathised with me.
Shortly afterwards I rang the Queensland Fair Trading Scam hotline who informed me that they too had been flooded with complaints about this scam as well. They told me lodge my complaint online which I did and I received a response a couple of hours later from a representative who said they were well aware of this scam and that my complaint had been received.
I hope this information helps out a few people to avoid being taken on a ride.
UPDATE 26/05/10: Just received a call from the ESRG, after hanging up on them 4 times in a row I then answered and told them they obviously don't get the hint and that I had an open ACCC investigation on them and they'd also been reported to the police. They then hung up.
UPDATE: 29/05/10: I've be liaising with a lady from Grafton, NSW who is looking into what action can be taken against this scummy company. She requested copies of both the VOG and The National Emergency Relief Guide she supposedly advertised in. The copy of the VOG she received was identical to the one I have, however my ad is not in her copy and her ad is not in mine. Surprise, surprise.
She then phone around several of the people in the guides who had all been stung by this multiple times. We're building up quite a good little case to take this further. These guys need to be stopped and we need you to keep reporting them to the ACCC and Fair Trading Offices.
Next step is we're currently in talks with newspapers to get some articles out to the public. The newspapers are very interested in our story and they also suggested we get in contact with ACA and Today Tonight. We're currently investigating this option and gaining some support for what to do next. So if you have been affected by this scam and want to help, get in contact with me by using the Email link on the main menu or leave a comment below.
LINKS:
ACCC ScamWatch Website
QLD Office of Fair Trading Complaint Website
Call the ACCC directly on 1300 302 502
