Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Important Swiss article on the Directory Scams
Journalist Christian Bütikofer has done a great deal of research into the directory scam industry and Yesterday stopECG published an English translation of his latest article which came out in the Swiss Newspaper Tages Anzeiger
Here are added a few notes on the content of the article
Under the headline Systematic challenge of Court decisions it is noted that the guides use a ruse whereby they can continue to trade as long as condemnations are under appeal, of course such laws are there to protect us but with the scam guides it is standard fare to take appeals all the way to the highest court and to drag out the legal process. Thus the ECG’s fine and condemnation of September 2003 was not finally confirmed until April 2008
Similarly Construct Data appeared to agree before the Austrian court to cease demands for money against those who had signed the companies trick contracts, only to circumvent the agreement and continue to rake in money for another year. By the time Austrian law finally closed in on Construct Data an almost identical company had appeared in Mexico
In Switzerland Bütikofer has discovered that Novachannel were condemned in 2008 but that they simply appealed and continued to trade unabated. The appeals gave Novachannel time to do a mass mailout on behalf of its Med1web directory, then before the final police raids the disputed contracts were simply sold to a Portuguese company.
As well as the widely reported penalties against the ECG Bütikofer has uncovered the penalties against Novachannel in Switzerland and a whole string of fines in Italy which brings the total known fines incurred by the Ludenbach guides since 2003 to around 1,000,000 Euros. The actual fines are almost certainly dwarfed by the legal costs of appealing them, these figures give a window on how much money is at stake.
The article also exposes how Intercable Verlag sold its disputed contracts to a Hungarian company. Central European Advertising Kft. (CEA Kft) The ownership of the new outfit is hidden through a holding company called Central European Advertising LLc based in Delaware, USA.
Under the heading Mud attack against Seco The article draws together previously reported links through the pornography industry between the scam guides and the German company Eye-Net GmbH which hosts a forum used to defame anyone who dares to stand up to the guides. The posts that named Seco staff have been removed but a huge body of content remains on the forum, and the account used to defame Seco is still active
CEA.Kft appeared at the very end of 2008, it remained unnoticed until May 2009 when it purchased the disputed contracts of scam guide Intercable Veralg AG. These disputed contracts and the subsequent demands for money when people signed them in error had resulted in a criminal investigation against Intercable in Switzerland. Just over a month after unloading the contracts to CEA, Intercable was raided, staff arrested and the company put into liquidation.
In addition to the information in the article stopECG can reveal that an Intercable related company that was only recently established, VS Verlag Service is also in liquidation. This company had as one of its board members a former long-term employee of Intercable Veralg.
Prior to liquidation they were looking for personnel and wrote that their main customer was to be a publishing house in Hungary.
Below are some addresses for persons in dispute with CEA Kft, they're reproduced here because some of the Hungarian characters corrupt on the stopECG website. For full advice please visit stopECGs page on CEA Kft
Mayor of Budapest
Mr. Gábor Demszky Mayor
Városház u. 9-11, 1052,
Budapest,
HUNGARY
tel : +36 1 3271038
fax : + 36 1 3271809
Web: http://www.budapest.hu/
Contact person: Ms. Maria Tomanek
Office of International Relations
Office of International Relations,
H-1052 Budapest,
Varoshaz u.9-11.
Hungary
tel: +36 1 3271075/76
fax:+36 1 3271807/82
Email: TomanekM@Budapest.hu
General Inspectorate for Consumer Protection
General Inspectorate for Consumer Protection
(Fogyasztóvédelmi Fofelügyeloség)
1088 Budapest,
József krt. 6.
Hungary
Web: http://www.fvf.hu/
E-mail: fvf@fvf.hu
Hungarian Police
http://www.police.hu/
Here are added a few notes on the content of the article
Under the headline Systematic challenge of Court decisions it is noted that the guides use a ruse whereby they can continue to trade as long as condemnations are under appeal, of course such laws are there to protect us but with the scam guides it is standard fare to take appeals all the way to the highest court and to drag out the legal process. Thus the ECG’s fine and condemnation of September 2003 was not finally confirmed until April 2008
Similarly Construct Data appeared to agree before the Austrian court to cease demands for money against those who had signed the companies trick contracts, only to circumvent the agreement and continue to rake in money for another year. By the time Austrian law finally closed in on Construct Data an almost identical company had appeared in Mexico
In Switzerland Bütikofer has discovered that Novachannel were condemned in 2008 but that they simply appealed and continued to trade unabated. The appeals gave Novachannel time to do a mass mailout on behalf of its Med1web directory, then before the final police raids the disputed contracts were simply sold to a Portuguese company.
As well as the widely reported penalties against the ECG Bütikofer has uncovered the penalties against Novachannel in Switzerland and a whole string of fines in Italy which brings the total known fines incurred by the Ludenbach guides since 2003 to around 1,000,000 Euros. The actual fines are almost certainly dwarfed by the legal costs of appealing them, these figures give a window on how much money is at stake.
The article also exposes how Intercable Verlag sold its disputed contracts to a Hungarian company. Central European Advertising Kft. (CEA Kft) The ownership of the new outfit is hidden through a holding company called Central European Advertising LLc based in Delaware, USA.
Under the heading Mud attack against Seco The article draws together previously reported links through the pornography industry between the scam guides and the German company Eye-Net GmbH which hosts a forum used to defame anyone who dares to stand up to the guides. The posts that named Seco staff have been removed but a huge body of content remains on the forum, and the account used to defame Seco is still active
CEA.Kft appeared at the very end of 2008, it remained unnoticed until May 2009 when it purchased the disputed contracts of scam guide Intercable Veralg AG. These disputed contracts and the subsequent demands for money when people signed them in error had resulted in a criminal investigation against Intercable in Switzerland. Just over a month after unloading the contracts to CEA, Intercable was raided, staff arrested and the company put into liquidation.
In addition to the information in the article stopECG can reveal that an Intercable related company that was only recently established, VS Verlag Service is also in liquidation. This company had as one of its board members a former long-term employee of Intercable Veralg.
Prior to liquidation they were looking for personnel and wrote that their main customer was to be a publishing house in Hungary.
Below are some addresses for persons in dispute with CEA Kft, they're reproduced here because some of the Hungarian characters corrupt on the stopECG website. For full advice please visit stopECGs page on CEA Kft
Mayor of Budapest
Mr. Gábor Demszky Mayor
Városház u. 9-11, 1052,
Budapest,
HUNGARY
tel : +36 1 3271038
fax : + 36 1 3271809
Web: http://www.budapest.hu/
Contact person: Ms. Maria Tomanek
Office of International Relations
Office of International Relations,
H-1052 Budapest,
Varoshaz u.9-11.
Hungary
tel: +36 1 3271075/76
fax:+36 1 3271807/82
Email: TomanekM@Budapest.hu
General Inspectorate for Consumer Protection
General Inspectorate for Consumer Protection
(Fogyasztóvédelmi Fofelügyeloség)
1088 Budapest,
József krt. 6.
Hungary
Web: http://www.fvf.hu/
E-mail: fvf@fvf.hu
Hungarian Police
http://www.police.hu/
Labels: CEA Kft, Central European Advertising LLc, Christian Bütikofer, Eye-net GmbH, intercable Verlag AG, VS Verlag Service
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Big News From Switzerland
For days now I have been getting reliable reports that the police have moved decisively in Switzerland against the Guides and associated companies.
I can confirm that at Novachannel AG, Intercable Verlag AG and Premium Recovery are not trading at this time, that arrests have been made and that at least one senior executive is reported to have evaded arrest and to be on the run.
I must qualify the obvious delight felt by all who have been touched by these companies, because it is not over yet, firstly this will all now go to court where the guide owners are sure to hire the best lawyers money can buy, secondly they have already moved parts of the operation out of Switzerland.
Around the turn of the Year Novachannel passed their med1web operation to United Directories Lda. In Portugal, United immediately set about actively hounding people who had signed Novachannels earlier mailouts, they have been very persistent and are also now mailing their own forms, forms almost identical to those previously sent by Novachannel.
Then on 1st May Intercable Verlag AG transferred disputed contracts to CEA Kft. of Budapest Hungary. CEA has already set about writing to Czech and Slovak victims who have signed Intercable forms in error. I will publish updated advice for people in dispute with the new companies soon.
These new companies are just the latest twist in a complex web of firms straddling the globe but primarily based in Europe. For over 30 years straw men and trustees have fronted holding companies that provided logistics, technical support and infrastructure, parts of individual guide activities have been secretly managed by these companies and while it is near impossible to ascertain the true owners of many of these firms money flows between them with great ease both as payments and loans. Again and again the core perpetrators have evaded justice, to such a point that some of them now feel above the law.
I know that employees of these companies, both current and past will read this blog, so I appeal to those of you reading to seize this opportunity and go to the police! You will have information that is almost certainly no longer in the paper trail. Details you consider minor might aid the case and make it harder for the guide operators to set up afresh. It is not just the current operators, if there is a resounding conviction in this case it will make it harder for people elsewhere in the world to run similar scams.
I will update this article and stopECG with details of how to contact the Lucerne police directly but in the meantime why not take what you know to your local station, even if you think the guides are unconnected.
Update: 2nd July / 6th July: as promised here are the contact details for Swiss Police, you can also pass information to me on stopscamguides@yahoo.co.uk and I will pass it on, as it is unclear who has overall responsibility I have published all relevant addresses.
Lucerne Police
Kantonspolizei Luzern
Kommando
Kasimir-Pfyffer-Strasse 26
Postfach 6002 Luzern
Switzerland
Tel +41 41 248 81 17
Fax +41 41 240 39 01
E-Mail info.kapo(at)lu.ch
Zug Police
Zuger Polizei
An der A
6300 Zug
Tel. 041 728 41 41
Fax 041 728 41 79
info(at)polizei.zg.ch
Ask for investigation officer Mr Daniel Stein
Swiss Courts
Eichwilstrasse 26010
Luzern Switzerland
Tel. +41 318 15 25
Fax +41 318 15 13
I can confirm that at Novachannel AG, Intercable Verlag AG and Premium Recovery are not trading at this time, that arrests have been made and that at least one senior executive is reported to have evaded arrest and to be on the run.
I must qualify the obvious delight felt by all who have been touched by these companies, because it is not over yet, firstly this will all now go to court where the guide owners are sure to hire the best lawyers money can buy, secondly they have already moved parts of the operation out of Switzerland.
Around the turn of the Year Novachannel passed their med1web operation to United Directories Lda. In Portugal, United immediately set about actively hounding people who had signed Novachannels earlier mailouts, they have been very persistent and are also now mailing their own forms, forms almost identical to those previously sent by Novachannel.
Then on 1st May Intercable Verlag AG transferred disputed contracts to CEA Kft. of Budapest Hungary. CEA has already set about writing to Czech and Slovak victims who have signed Intercable forms in error. I will publish updated advice for people in dispute with the new companies soon.
These new companies are just the latest twist in a complex web of firms straddling the globe but primarily based in Europe. For over 30 years straw men and trustees have fronted holding companies that provided logistics, technical support and infrastructure, parts of individual guide activities have been secretly managed by these companies and while it is near impossible to ascertain the true owners of many of these firms money flows between them with great ease both as payments and loans. Again and again the core perpetrators have evaded justice, to such a point that some of them now feel above the law.
I know that employees of these companies, both current and past will read this blog, so I appeal to those of you reading to seize this opportunity and go to the police! You will have information that is almost certainly no longer in the paper trail. Details you consider minor might aid the case and make it harder for the guide operators to set up afresh. It is not just the current operators, if there is a resounding conviction in this case it will make it harder for people elsewhere in the world to run similar scams.
I will update this article and stopECG with details of how to contact the Lucerne police directly but in the meantime why not take what you know to your local station, even if you think the guides are unconnected.
Update: 2nd July / 6th July: as promised here are the contact details for Swiss Police, you can also pass information to me on stopscamguides@yahoo.co.uk and I will pass it on, as it is unclear who has overall responsibility I have published all relevant addresses.
Lucerne Police
Kantonspolizei Luzern
Kommando
Kasimir-Pfyffer-Strasse 26
Postfach 6002 Luzern
Switzerland
Tel +41 41 248 81 17
Fax +41 41 240 39 01
E-Mail info.kapo(at)lu.ch
Zug Police
Zuger Polizei
An der A
6300 Zug
Tel. 041 728 41 41
Fax 041 728 41 79
info(at)polizei.zg.ch
Ask for investigation officer Mr Daniel Stein
Swiss Courts
Eichwilstrasse 26010
Luzern Switzerland
Tel. +41 318 15 25
Fax +41 318 15 13
Labels: CEA Kft, intercable Verlag AG, med1web, Novachannel AG, Police, Premium Recovery, scam, United Directories Lda
