Category: Commercial

Monday, 03 June 2024

This unsolicited and unsigned email landed in our INBOX on Friday.

Apparently, it is a scam – see comments below.

Hello,

For the insertion of your company in the World Company Register for 2024/2025, please submit the completed document in a reply.

A photo of the completed form is also accepted.

WORLD COMPANY REGISTER
P.O.BOX 3079
3502 GB UTRECHT
THE NETHERLANDS

Tel/Fax: +31 303 100 126

You can also attach the completed pdf in a reply to this email.

Updating is free of charge.

This next WARNING notice is available online, apparently from a German Commerce lawyer, Daniel Loschelder…(Note the ‘typo’ at the very end of that piece: are we sure that this offer is any more genuine than the WCR one?).

Warning against World Company Register invoice

A World Company Register (German version please find here) is currently trying to obtain the signatures of tradespeople, freelancers and entrepreneurs throughout Germany by means of trick forms. The aim is to conclude a contract with the World Company Register for a fee. This is a very popular scam that has found more and more imitators in recent years. We expressly warn against signing and returning such forms.

About the World Company Register

The World Company Register is operated by an EU Business Services Ltd. On the trick form, a PO Box in Utrecht/Holland is stated, but that is not where the company is based. It resides in Nevis in the West Indies. This also means that you should not make any payments to EU Business Services Ltd. as it is very difficult to take legal action due to thwarted deliveries. It is always amazing what different constructs companies choose to create contract traps. Nevis, by the way, is a Caribbean island and a veritable tax haven.  One of the reasons for the high popularity of Nevis is said to be the strong and reliable protection of clients’ privacy that the islands offer. In this respect, it is only understandable that such corporate domiciles are chosen in order to disguise the people behind these scams as much as possible.

The World Company Register scam

It all starts with an illegal e-mail advertisement. There it is stated that the attached form should be completed, printed out and returned in order to guarantee the company’s entry in the World Company Register for 2023/2024 (ours is updated to this current trading year). At first glance, the trick form is unsuspicious. One gets the impression that one only has to enter one’s data. It also clearly mentions “UPDATE IS FREE OF CHARGE”. This is supposed to give the impression that an entry in the World Company Register is free of charge. However, this is a fallacy. At the end of the form, it is clearly stated that by signing the form you are entering into a three-year contract, which is supposed to cost €995 per year. In total, the signature is supposed to have a volume of just under 3,000 €. A lot of money for what we consider to be a completely irrelevant entry. If one researches further, one comes to the conclusion that one is to be entered in the register on the website worldcompanyregister.org. According to the very scanty information there, this register is supposedly operated by an International Directories Ltd. on the Cayman Islands. The trick form also contains a renewal clause. If you do not cancel two months before the end of the contract period, the contract is automatically extended for another year. A nasty scam that has found more and more imitators in recent years and seems to be quite successful.

Invoice from the World Company Register

Immediately after returning the trick form, the bill arrives. Most of those affected are shocked to learn that they did not know they had signed a contract with the World Company Register. Far too many of those affected make payments in the hope that this will settle the matter. However, according to the small print of the text, two more invoices are due because the contract is supposedly for three years.

World Company Register Cancellation?

Traders do not have the right to cancel. Unfortunately, this is a widespread misconception. In any case, the contract should be cancelled so that it is not renewed for another year. In addition, in our opinion, rescission on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation is the remedy of choice.

Illegal form – legal contract?

The unsolicited sending of advertising by e-mail is illegal. One might therefore think that this also affects the concluded contract.  However, this is not the case. It is a widespread misconception that mail advertising is permissible in business dealings. This is only the case if special preconditions exist, such as consent to this advertising. However, there are numerous other connecting factors that make the contract vulnerable to attack.

Threat of debt collection

EU Business Services Ltd. is known to instruct an obscure and highly dubious InkassoWorld Company Register called Waldberg & Hirsch if you do not make payments. But even a InkassoWorld Company Register is not omnipotent, quite the opposite. However, it is imperative to make the right declarations. What a InkassoWorld Company Register is allowed to do and what it is not allowed to do, we have explained in a separate article: INKASSO – Truth and Myth

Defence against the invoice from World Company Register

As a lawyer for trademark law , our law firm has been able to save countless clients from such machinations and high payments in the past. This is also reflected in our Google ratings: Experiences with subscription traps! So, if you have also signed such a trick form and have now received an invoice, you are welcome to contact us. We will represent you quickly, competently and nationwide. Please describe your situation using the contact form below and upload your invoice without obligation, and we will get back to you:

World Comapny Register