MX Lab reported in 2009 about the misleading marketing trick that the World Business Directory uses. Guess what, they are back!

MX Lab received a new registration form from the World Business Directory and again, we want to point out a few things before you sign their contract.

The email comes from info@companyworld2010.com, with the subject “Registration of the World Business Directory 2010/2011″ and this is the email content:

Dear Madam/Sir,

In order to have your company registered in the World Business
Directory for 2010/2011, please print, complete and return the
enclosed form (PDF file) to the following address:

World Business Directory
Suite 149 – Rosden House – 372 Old Street
EC1V 9AU / London – United Kingdom
E-mail: office@companyworld2010.com
Fax: +44 207 806 8157

Updating is free of charge!

To unsubscribe, please send an email to
unsubscribe@companyworld2010.com

Attached is a PDF file named world-businessdirectory.pdf.

The 1st point that needs your attention is the text block 1:

To update your company profile, please print, complete and return
this form (Updating is free of charge). Only sign if you want to
place an insertion.

As you can read, updating is free of charge but if you want your company get listed in this directory you will need to sign and have to pay.

What is the price of this directory you may ask yourself? Well, you have to go to text block 2 with the very small letters and this includes:

I WILL HAVE AN INSERTION INTO ITS DATA BASE FOR THREE YEARS. THE PRICE PER YEAR IS GBP 980.

And there you have it, this contract will cost your business a total amount of GBP 2940 over 3 years. After the 3 years subscription you can stop your contract if you inform them on time:

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.

A few arguments from our side that this is a scam:

The from email address contains the domain companyworld2010.com and when trying to see if there is a site online we got the notification “This account has been suspended”. We might see new emails from the World Business Directory appear with other domains.

When getting some WHOIS information on the domain we got the following:

Registrant:
 international group c/o Free Private Reg
 P.O. Box 81024
 Burnaby, BC V5H 4K2
 CA

 Domain name: COMPANYWORLD2010.COM

 Administrative Contact:
    boot, cornelis  companyworld2010.com@freeprivateregistration.com
    P.O. Box 81024
    Burnaby, BC V5H 4K2
    CA
    852-3594-1708
 Technical Contact:
    Hostmaster, Domain  hostmaster@doteasy.com
    Suite 210 - 3602 Gilmore Way
    Burnaby, BC V5G 4W9
    CA
    (604) 434-4307    Fax: (604) 608-6832

 Registrar of Record: In2net Network Inc.
 Record last updated on 05-Mar-2010.
 Record expires on 05-Mar-2011.
 Record created on 05-Mar-2010.

 Domain servers in listed order:
    DNS8.DOTEASY.COM   65.61.199.14
    DNS7.DOTEASY.COM   65.61.198.14

 Domain status: clientTransferProhibited
                clientUpdateProhibited

The registrant information is rather vague and points to a PO Box and the administrative contact has the same address. The domain freeprivateregistration.com in the email address of the administrative contact is just a domain alias from doteasy.com. These details must be fake.

In 2009, the PDF document needed to be returned to an address in The Netherlands, in this 2010/2011 edition it needs to be returned to an address in London, UK.

When visiting their site at http://www.world-businessdirectory.com/ on the ‘About us’ page we found the following text:

The World Business Directory online is product of EU Business Services Ltd, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Nevis, West Indies.

We also  found the UK address on the ‘Contact us’ page.

Our recommendation is: don’t sign the document and don’t do business with this company.

Follow these guidelines if  you are a victim of this directory scam:

• Do not pay, even if they imply to take your case to court.
• If you have paid a certain amount, stop the next payments. Expect that you won’t get a refund either.
• Send them a letter informing them you have been misled and telling them to cancel the contract.
• If possible, report to (local) authorities.

Additional information:

Stop EU Business Services Ltd Trading As World Business Directory
Stop world-businessdirectory.com

On the web site of Richard Corbett you can find some background information about directory scams and what to do when you are a victim of such a scam.