An email with the subject “EBG – Europe Business Guide 2022/2023” is currently landing in many mailboxes of German traders, entrepreneurs and freelancers. The sender includes an address in Utrecht, Netherlands in the signature. According to the email content, in order to register your company in the Europe Business Guide, you should fill out the attached PDF and return it to the sender.
Europe Business Guide – Data Control
The PDF turns out to be a form titled “Data Control”.
The benefit of an entry is described in the form that other companies in the Europe Business Guide can find out about the services of their own company.
All you have to do is enter your current data and sign the form and send it to the address listed in Utrecht.
It should also be noted here that further updates would be free of charge: “Updating is free of charge”.
The fine print!
As always, don't miss the fine print. Because this is where the really interesting information is. You can read here that an entry in the Europe Business Guide should cost 990 euros and you sign a contract for three years. That's a total of 2,970 euros. This contract is always extended for another year if you do not send written notice of termination two months before it expires.
It's pretty steep, but you don't really know what you're getting for it. If you look for the so-called guide, it can be a bit confusing.
What is this Europe Business Guide, who is the operator?
The URL europebusinessguide.net is listed on the form. When you access this page you get the information “The website is not accessible”. However, if you search on the Internet you will also find europebusinessguide.org. Some companies are listed here, but we question whether this is worth almost 3,000 euros. In addition, you cannot be sure that this is really what this is about, since this URL is not mentioned on the form.
The operators are EU Business Services Ltd., which had already launched similar scams such as “EU Business Register” or “World Business List”. The company appears in England , at least there is a company entry here. But a seat in the West Indies is also suspected.
To process new registrations, operators use a PO address in the Netherlands. – Everything is a bit cryptic and therefore far from serious.
Lawyers have been able to successfully represent those affected against such machinations on several occasions and thus protect them from high payments.
Source:
anwalt.de , abofalle-anwalt.de , techstream.at
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Notes:
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