It is an alleged multi-million dollar fraud. And it has just been reported to the European authorities. What is behind it is a supposed registry of European companies, baptized as European Business Number (EBN). It seems that this is a business somewhat murky, in which it asks companies to join a new European record companies .
Some businessmen have already denounced. They indicate that they have registered their companies and have received invoices of up to 1,000 euros per year . A real outrage that has left those who have suddenly had to assume such a huge bill speechless.
Furthermore, the problem is that the promoters of this supposed registry tell companies that it is a new database of European companies, the incorporation of which will be mandatory for all those corporations that are within Europe.
The point is that the record in question doesn't actually exist. What is behind is a German company trying to convince entrepreneurs to sign up. But the registry is an ordinary web page that the company manages and that at first glance may look like an official registry . In the end, what this is actually is a simple business finder.
A German company and a repeat fraud
This is not the first time this has happened. The company in question is German, based in Hamburg, and is associated with these data: DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH, Alter Wall 65, DE-20457 Hamburg, Germany, Telephone +49 (0) 40 7511990 and fax +49 (0) 40 75119911, mail [email protected]) and website //www.ebn.eu.
As El Mundo Financiero explains, we are facing a fraud that is not entirely new. In fact, a long time ago there was a kind of similar registry, which worked under the name of the EU Business Register, and which was in force for no more and no less than six years.
What entrepreneurs who try to be scammed receive is a letter from Germany . Six years after the first scams were detected, some Spanish companies have also been on alert. They can receive it in letter format, but also via email. They ask them to sign up, logically, and pay.
Actually the process is simple and fast . You just have to enter the business data in a form, which ends up assuming the signing of a three-year contract. This is a condition that is described in the contract, but logically, through small print. And in a somewhat intricate way.
Then the companies that have fallen into the trap become part of the website. And these can be searched in the portal: just type the name of the company. Nothing else. The fact is that antivirus systems are capable of detecting the page as fraudulent and users are warned of this when they try to access it.
1,000 euros a year for nothing
The companies that have been scammed have had to pay 1,000 euros a year. The fact is that, after having signed the contract, the scammers demand the payment of said amount to the companies . They also dare to send letters demanding payment, along with threats of denunciation.
The name EBN European Business Number must be kept in mind. It is the name of those who, according to this medium, seek to scam companies with a minimum of 3,000 euros. We must not lose sight of the fact that the contract requires a minimum period of permanence of three years, at 1,000 euros every 365 days . That is not little.