Urgent action needed to crack down on business directory scams
Posted, June 09, 2011 @ 00:00
Strasbourg, 9th June 2011 -- Small business owners are still suffering from the significant worry caused by underhand practices used by so-called business directories and the European Union needs to take action to ensure legislation is in place to close them down and prosecute, Struan Stevenson MEP, Conservative MEP for Scotland, said today.
He was calling for action in a debate in the European Parliament initiated by the European Parliament's petitions committee which has received more than 400 complaints, and the internal market and consumer protection committee chaired by Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour. MEPs from across the chamber said that the commission was not doing enough to clamp down on companies that offer small companies a free listing in their directory yet the small print of the contract subsequently enables the directory to present them with extortionate charges.
The European Commission has already said that the practice is illegal but there are questions over whether there is a need for tighter implementation of the EU's misleading advertising directive, or even a rethink.
Speaking in the chamber today, Struan Stevenson said:
"It is often elderly people who run B&Bs or let holiday cottages who fall foul of this criminal activity. They enter their address into a supposedly free directory and then receive a bill for a thousand Euros. Elderly people are terrified when they receive letters supposedly from legal representatives of these companies.
"This is cross-border criminal activity. These companies give their addresses so we need to track them down, prosecute them and ensure people are protected from them. Whenever victims contact me I tell them to ask the directory to refer all future correspondence to me. They never hear from them again.
"The people need to be in prison."
Malcolm Harbour MEP said:
"I have recently received what looked like a perfectly innocuous free opportunity to advertise my business, which upon reading the small print turned out to be a scam. Fortunately I have dealt with this scandal for long enough to be aware of it but many other businesses have not been so fortunate. This activity is illegal and we need to make sure that national governments are taking action to close it down. In the meantime, anybody who falls foul of this scam should refuse to pay and get in touch with their MEP."