Fraudulent Billing Confidence Trick
Complaint
FKD
Country: Canada
CMpages.com calling from 866-358-3003 sending fake invoices and calling to harrass my father who is 83 years old to pay over $500.00 for advertising we never requested and never ordered and never used.
This is a 'Bogus' collection agency scamming for services never authorized. This is not the first
time they have targeted my father - threatening a 'senior citizen' - This is 'CRIMINAL'!!!
They are based in Montreal and we are a tiny private company due to retire after 50 years in service - on the other side of the Country . My father doesn't even have a computer or know anything about web pages and has always only ever done business by 'word of mouth'.
These people are con artists on a whole new level of despicable! Shame on them for trying to steal honest peoples' hard earned money!
This is a 'Bogus' collection agency scamming for services never authorized. This is not the first
time they have targeted my father - threatening a 'senior citizen' - This is 'CRIMINAL'!!!
They are based in Montreal and we are a tiny private company due to retire after 50 years in service - on the other side of the Country . My father doesn't even have a computer or know anything about web pages and has always only ever done business by 'word of mouth'.
These people are con artists on a whole new level of despicable! Shame on them for trying to steal honest peoples' hard earned money!
Comments
In the list below you will find Canadian Media Pages, it is the same company as CMpages with the same adres and phone number.
Business Directory Scam
Have you ever received an invoice for a business directory listing that you never ordered? Perhaps you had experienced the following scenario.
You received a phone call from a telemarketing company claiming that someone (could be your ex-employee) from your office had previously authorized the purchase of business listing in a business directory, and they would like to verify your business information, such as company name, address, telephone and fax number. This so called verification would lead you to believe that your business has already been listed in their business directory.
Shortly, you received an invoice, typically between $399 and $798, in the mail or fax for your “order”. A few days or one week later, someone from the Account Receivables department called to collect the payment for your company listing. If you refused to pay the invoice, the caller would harrass you and even threatened to initiate a legal action against you, and also forwarded your invoice to a debt-collection agency that could damage your credit rating.
Well, if this scenario happened to you, please be on your guard. You could be a victim of a business directory scam.
Here are what you should do if you received a phone call from a collector:
1. Do NOT under any circumstances send these scammers money.
2. Tell him/her that you are not going to pay for the invoice, and let this scammer know that you are going to take the actions outlined in the step 3 and 4.
3. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission by visiting the the FTC website (http://www.ftc.gov) or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).
4. Report the scam to your local Better Business Bureau and your state Attorney General.
Remember folks, you are NOT obliged to pay for services that you never requested or ordered. Last, your credit rating will NEVER be damaged/ruined just because of not paying this business directory scam.
To help you recognize this scam, here is a list of companies known to scam small businesses:
■ABI Publications
■B2B IPages – Chicago, IL
■Business Data Center – Plattsburgh, NY
■Canadian BizOnline
■Canadian Media Pages
■ClearView Corporate Communication, Inc. – Chicago, IL
■Canora Pages – Montreal, QC
■Commutel Marketing – Montreal, QC and Victoria, BC
■Empire Direct Group – Plattsburgh, NY
■DataSource411 – Montreal, QC and Rochester, NY
■Horizon Data Inc. – Champlain, NY
■Info US411 – Middletown, DE
■Infotel Publications – Montreal, QC
■National Business Information Exchange (NBIE) Inc. – Montreal, QC and Chesapeake Beach, MD
■Reed Publishing aka Reed Directories
■Target Publications – Ansonia, CT and Champlain, NY
■Tradeshow Data Center – Plattsburg, NJ
■YourCompanyListing.com (a spin off of NBIE Inc.) – Montreal, QC and Chesapeake Beach, MD
■YourYellowURL – Ottawa, ON and Watertown, MA
How come someone can't shut these people down? and why aren't they the least embarassed when being called out on their scams?
Have registered a complaint with the Competition Bureau. Am now forwarding my complete file of correspondence to the RCMP with a copy of the letter to the RCMP going to CM Pages. Oh yes, after one letter I sent I received a phone call stating they said 'renewal' as they had given me a 'complimentary' year before the renewal.
Note I just got a call from a company Mentor Media (4246. Albert st.#411Regina, SK. Tel: 1-888-308-0960). They must be affiliated with CMpages, as they had my husband company name and mentioned CMPages. I abrutply told the person on the phone not to call anymore.
Upon looking at the BBB listing there have been complaints about the Mentor Media as well. Beware.
Corinne A. Muccilli
or Alayna Dueck
Baker & Company
Barristers & Solicitors
416-777-0100
3300-130 Adelaide Street West, Toronto
cmuccilli@bakerlawyers.com
- I signed up with them several years ago, and paid for a year of service. I think that I only got about 3 calls from potential
customers for my windowcleaning business for the whole year.
- I was past them financially, I believed.
- Several times, after my year was finished, I was called by their salespersons to start service again. I said "no" each time.
- Then one time, when I was tired, and in a hurry, another sales person called me. She asked me "Would you like to get
an invoice for the second half of your order?" I wasn't thinking straight, and I had thought that I still owed them money,
so of course, I want to know what it was. I was surprised by this request, originally thought that I had concluded my
matters with them. I agreed to get the invoice, as I thought that I still owed them outstanding money.
- I later got an invoice for $648.90, and I queried it. I was told that it was a new invoice for a new year of service. I felt
betrayed.
- Why did the sales person...
-not tell me that this is a new invoice for a whole new year of service?
-suggest that this is a lingering leftover of an old bill by saying "second half of your order" ?
-not explain to me what a "second half of an order" is?
-not tell me that the first and only order had been totally consummated and concluded in time duration and bill paid in
full ?
- How could I have two halves of an order ????? Does that mean that the order is two years long, and that it is paid
in two parts ?
- I was told by Helen of the Accounts Receivable section that my first invoice had been paid in full, so how could I have a
a second part, if there was only one part to start with ?
- I feel tricked and betrayed, and if I had known that I would be paying for another full year, I would have said no from the
beginning.
- I am not going to pay the bill, and will officially report this scam. I am considering taking legal action. I am going to let
the two credit reporting services, Trans Union, and Equifax know about this also, as well as to any credit collectors that
may be unfortunate/stupid enough to buy out my 'account' from CMPages.
Aarre Peltomaa
They never clearly made an offer for this "second half of your order", and you never agreed to it. You don't owe it. They know that, but they are in the "business" of bullying "customers" into paying anyway. As you found their "product" is virtually useless, merely a prop to use in the shakedown.
These shakedown scams often operate cross-border, from fraudulent telemarketing call centers in Montreal, Canada. Montreal is apparently a big center for telephone fraud aimed at the US, because they're really close, culturally similar, and with American sounding accents so victims assume they're a US business and lower their guard.
The scam is so well known, you can find warnings on FTC, state AG, and BBB websites. They typically rely on angry "collection" calls, faxing "invoices" (to avoid US Mail and mail fraud complications), and don't sue. There has been a shady "collection agency" handling these fraudulent "accounts", located in New Jersey, but they depend on the same harassing tactics and there are no reports that they damage credit despite threats. They clearly know exactly what trash they are collecting on, and are basically playing a game of "chicken" looking for suckers.
None of this is an "accident" or a "business misunderstanding". It's a fraud attempt, so report it as such, to FTC, and your state AG. If they harass you, report the harassment, and tell them you have done so. Insist they send you all communications by US Mail, and report fraudulent mailed invoices to the US Postal Inspector.
Do NOT "negotiate" with them, try to "convince" them this is an error, as that just labels you another sucker.
hang up the phone and RING RING....... apparently!!!!! THEY TELL ME i have been with horizon data pages. Since 2014 i just said i have no idea who you are. Researched there web site couldn't I find my business there. Company said they would sort it out and give me call. Still waiting !!!!!!
HEADS UP ALL
Anyways, here we are half way through 2015 and I get a call from Canada credit services out of Quebec. Originally I didn't answer the call and "Tina? Gina?" (Couldn't understand her) left a message for me to call with a file #. Although the first 10 seconds of the message was her coughing and sounding like she needs another smoke not sounding like a professional at all, I decided to call her back. It was a pretty short conversation because she was basically saying that she "reviewed the tapes" and I clearly knew what I was ordering and that I need to pay, but everything she said, I told her was false... but she said otherwise. Of course, I'm not allowed to hear the tapes, but even if I could I'm sure they've been doctored.
She abruptly hung up on me because I kept countering what she was stating and I guess that's how professional collection companies respond when people talk back to them.
Oh well, I'm sure they'll send me a bill in the mail I will ignore, but I'm reaching the point where I think a class action law suit should be formulated. Not sure how to go about it, but if there's enough interest from us, the scamees, I would certainly be on board.
They might just push me to the point that they wish they didn't. Anyone interested in filing a class action law suit, I think we should compile a database of companies that they tried scamming because with strength in numbers we can put these [***] behind bars and/or recover the money they stole.
Reply to this post if you're pissed enough to take legal action.
front pretending to be a Google website. No one in Canada has ever seen it or knows how to get on Local Keyword Directory.
If this company tries to persist with anything other than harassing phone calls 1613 with only beeps on the other end, I will
take my computer into court and type in keywords like: prostitution, milkman, postman, my husbands name (won't give out)
and my business will come up on a false page. There are other business in my city that I recognize and they are not in the right
category. The whole scam is stupid!!! and looking for gullible people. I just got a call from a guy with a "weak and feeble"
voice asking for employment. It was the Collection Agency. I cross referenced the cell number and it came up with a local
business in my City. The same cell number was on Kijiiji a few times and with other listings of other people.
I heard about tapes in the beginning from a lady named Gloria that sounded like she had a whiskey bottle down her throat and quite gruff. Same lady??
Desperate fradulent people (and they are not legit companies) go to any length to get something for nothing.
My invoice # starts with 613; I guess they could not think of anything else and my harrassing phone calls are 1613.