EBN European Business Number scam - Part 2 - Do not pay!

Saturday, December 2. 2017

Update 25th June 2019: EBN scammers bankrupt

Roughly an year ago I posted about EBN European Business Number scam. Now, an year later, it is one of the most commented article on my blog. At the time of posting, I was just pissed off about that stupid scam and wanted to inform and educate my readers about this and warn them for NOT to agree on their terms, nor pay anybody any money for it.

Then something that I didn't foresee or expect to happen happened: The article took off and thousands of people read it and dozens commented it. Looks like I stumbled into something big. The upcoming months proved, that this scamming corporation was operating all over Europe and doing their less-than-honest "business" of selling nothingness to unwary business owners.

Given the flood of comments, recently I found out that Raivo Laanemets, an Estonian software consultant, wrote about EBN scam back on 2015, over year before I did. Go read his blog post here. For the pointer, I'd like to thank Mr. Vaidas, who copy/pasted the comment from Mr. Laanemets' blog to mine.

This is the comment from June 2017 and contains following by Mr.(?) Gorila:

Now, beyond any doubt I know answers to two crucial questions:

1. Who is behind the EBN fraud?
and
2. Why the Debt Recovery business has relocated to Czech Republic?

1. Who is behind the EBN fraud
After short investigation of two debt recovery companies who are sending threatening letters to the victims of EBN fraud I have found out that the man behind the EBN fraud is a notorious fraudster Adrian Wittmer. Wittmer is well known as the CEO of Intercable Verlag AG and was involved internationally in many similar frauds.
He was prosecuted by the Swiss Police and his company in Germany was closed after the Police raid. He has relocated his business into Czech Republic which is more tolerant towards fraudsters.
Adrian Wittmer is a founder of at least five fraudulent companies in Czech Republic; two of them are still active whilst the other three were closed. All companies allegedly have no employees and negligible turnover More information about these companies you may find from public data of the Czech Business Register. (https://www.detail.cz/osoba/adrian-wittmer-varsavska-715-36-praha/Hmp7dwW27XI/).

2. Why the Debt Recovery business has relocated to Czech Republic.
In Germany, as well in the EU, debt recovery is legally regulated and must be carried out according to the law, in accordance to the Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006. This regulation describes payment procedure for claims not contested by the defendant. This regulation simplifies, speeds up and reduces the costs of litigation in cases involving more than one EU country. The problem for DAD/EBN is that procedure procedure applies just to cases where the claim is not contested.
In case of the defendants’ complaint the matter ends up at the court which would judge against DAD in accordance to German Laws and Judgement of the German Supreme court which has rendered EBN fraud impracticable in Germany. Therefore, DAD is keen to settle accounts out of the court, but German legislation opposes any other than the lawful debt recovery.
In the past some attempts have ended by the police investigation and imprisonment for 2,5 years (Mr. Wilk and Mr. Schnell from Rostock, Germany). Therefore, the illegal part of the busies is relocated to Czech Republic which favors fraudsters, or at least, doesn’t persecute them.
Two active companies founded and owned by Adrian Wittmer Credit Business Resolution s.r.o. CCF Credit Collection Factoring s.r.o are now sending threatening letters, representing themselves as acting on behalf of EBN/DAD. In reality, they are doing the second illegal part in the fraud which is punishable by the German laws. Hence DAD/EBN have relocated that part of the busies into Czech Republic.

EBN in Hamburg is just the first stage in the business: harvesting signatures, issuing invoices and is sending payment reminders. They do just the part which is not prosecuted in Germany by the Criminal Police. What they do is bordering on matters punishable by the German laws but remain at the safe side. Therefore, we may conclude that the whole EBN fraud is illegal according to the German laws and presents no treat to those who have returned signed forms to DAD. DO NOT PAY – Just ignore them and enjoy ongoing vacations.

The critical claims made are:

  1. Person behind all this is Adrian Wittmer
    • My comment: I'm not sure how to confirm this
  2. Mentioned Adrian Wittmer is actively involved in two companies: Credit Business Resolution s.r.o. and CCF Credit Collection Factoring s.r.o.
    • My comment: I have not seen the threatening debt collector's letters, but in my previous EBN post comments, people have said, that the company doing the debt collecting is indeed Credit Collection Factoring s.r.o. from the Czech Republic
  3. Czech Republic legislation is more tolerant towards fraudsters
    • My comment: I barely know parts of Finnish law, gaining understanding difference between German or Czech laws is way beyond me.
  4. Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 creating a European order for payment procedure
    • My comment: The above mentioned regulation directs how payments of "low value" between companies. (16) says: "This would allow the court to examine prima facie the merits of the claim and inter alia to exclude clearly unfounded claims or inadmissible applications."
      Article 7 (d) and (e) define, that EBN debt collectors need to establish basis for their claim and appropriate evidence.
      Shortly: If EBN-scam can be proven as unfounded claim based on fraud, you don't have to pay.
  5. Mr. Wittmer has created a money-making-machine. First he sells a non-existing "service" for European Business Number, then he acts as an enforcer to collect his own debt from customers refusing to pay.
    • My comment: Again, I'm not sure how to confirm this, but it sure looks like that!

What I found out to corroborate Mr.(?) Gorila's claims made is:

  • A variation of EBN-scam has been running in Czech Republic since 1998. There is an article about the scam written in 2006.
  • Articles about Intercable Verlag AG can be found back in 2003 in Swizerland.
  • Intercable Verlag AG was raided by Swiss police in 2006 and placed in liquidation in 2009
  • I found a ton of claims, that Mr. Wittmer was the managing director of Intercable Verlag, but was unable to verify that. I guess, I just have to assume, that the claim is true.
  • Croatian authorities issued a warning against EBN scam in 2017. That binds Swiss Intercable Verlag AG into Dutch EU Business Register and German DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH. That could be a proof, that same persons operate the scam.
  • In September 2014 European Parliament issued a notice about on misleading offers from Deutsche Adressdienst GmbH (DAD). That document clearly states that all petitions against the DAD Gmbh have been "declared admissible".
    Shortly: You don't have to pay!

There seems to be a lot of truth in his(?) comment.

Do not pay!

When going gets tough for you, just refer to European Parliament Petition 1176/2013, Petition 1180/2013 and Petition 1556/2013 to the judge. That should make things bouncing your way.

by Jari Turkia in Security at 13:58 | Comments (131) | Share in LinkedIn

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gorila on :

Dear Friends,

Here and elsewhere many people have asked two the most important questions:

(1) has DAD sued "clients" and
(2) has DAD won at the court?

The answers are:
(1) YES, they have sued but,
(2) NO, they haven’t won – DAD has lost!

Even worse for them: the Court (Landgericht Hamburg) has decided that the actions of DAD constitute a criminal offence of fraud.

So, fear not and DO NOT PAY EVER. I hope that this will bring you more peace of mind.

That court proceeding was the DeutschesInternetRegister case, from 2008 – a decade ago. There are many similar court decisions in Germany but I have decided to present exactly this one because it involves "our" DAD and is about exactly the same fraud scheme as the EBN.

Their form "contract" from 2008 was practically the same. You can find it here:
https://schwerin-blog.de/wp-content/uploads/Internet/2008/20080222_dad2.jpg

The Court (Landgericht Hamburg) decision is here (Landgericht Hamburg, Urteil vom 14.01.2011
- 309 S 66/10):
https://openjur.de/u/165740.html
Comments (8)

Jari Turkia on :

Thank you for this information. Lot of people seem to be asking those questions, but I have not found anything relevant to be posted.

I checked the link you gave, https://openjur.de/u/165740.html, but my non-existent German combined with Google Translate's inability to actually translate legal text leaves me out of luck. I simply cannot comprehend if the link is related at all. :-)
Comments (21)

Ramona on :

I am from Romania and made the same mistake to sign the paper,in 2016.
I wrote them to cancel the "contract" immediately as I discovered the scam.
From 2016,I received a lot of letters from them.
Last week I got a phone call from a certain Vanda Moura,senior collection officer from DATA FOCUS Portugal.
Immediately she sent the next mail:

Dear Sir / Madam,

Further to our telephone conversation today, 12.10.2018, we at Datafocus Lda are instructed and duly authorized by our client DAD Deutscher Adressdienst Gmbh (DAD) to act on his behalf, in regards to the collection of your commercial debt, relating to advertising services on the Web Portal European Business Number.

According with our records, your company signed a legally binding B2B (Business to Business) contract on 12th September 2016 ordering a premium advertisement on the Web Portal European Business Number managed by the DAD Gmbh (Hamburg - Germany).

The marketing proposal provided all the necessary information about the characteristics of the payable ad: annual cost (677,00 EUR), minimum duration (three years) and possibility to cancel within the cooling off period (two weeks). Your company chose to fill in, sign and return back the order (no force whatsoever was applied) and by doing so adhered to a legally binding agreement requesting a payable entry in our client web portal. According with our client request your company never paid the service.
The aim of our company is really to find an amicable solution to avoid a legal recourse that will incur additional costs for both parties.

My client, DAD Deutscher Adressdienst Gmbh, will accept the payment of 677,00 EUR (Six hundred seventy-seven) instead of 3 years of contractual fees. This is a very acceptable mediation and this will entail additional costs for both parties. The amount must be paid until 19th October 2018.

Once the aforementioned amount is received, DAD Deutscher Adressdienst Gmbh (DAD), or any other party, will not be able to claim the debt, and the case will definitely be terminated (We advise you to print our correspondence, to protect against any other debt recovery)"

How I should answer further to end this embarassing story?
Thank you!
Comment (1)

Lemmy on :

What worries me is that if you are insured by DAS and take a letter from these fraudsters to DAS to get legal help, DAS is treating them seriously and writing to them disputing the small print of the contract. Why DAS lawyers can't tell their clients that this 'company' is fraudulent, and tell the company to get lost, is beyond me. It means that DAS is making its insured parties worry unnecessarily about the possibility of court proceedings, court costs, etc.
Comment (1)

gorila on :

Indeed, Legal German language is very difficult to translate into English. However, in 2010 there were many German articles addressing this court decision. Language of journal articles is simpler and easier to understand. Yet that article is informative and precise enough to conwey the court ruling message to general public.

...

NOTE:
I cut off rest of the comment and published it as a blog post. It is at https://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/389-EBN-European-Business-Number-scam-Part-3-Gorilas-findings.html with appropriate credits to you.

Again, I thank you for your valuable efforts and information regarding this scam.
Comments (8)

Robbe on :

Hi, have send my signed agreement to them by email and by mistake. (I was miss leaded to just answer their form and i did not noticed the annual payment what was hidden in the text) Now I am having invoices from them. How I should act. What I should reply to them. Is there some authorities in German to contact.
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

My advice to you is to just sit and wait. They will send you more warnings, they will threaten you, they will use harsh language about suing you, but just hang tight and wait them to actually sue you to a court of law. There you can present your case. You can claim, that this is a fraud and refer to the case they lost in Hamburg. Also you can refer to the EU warning about this fraud. In reality, I don't think that day in court will never happen.

You made the mistake of signing, now this turned into a game of patience for you. Sorry.
Comments (21)

Erzsebe Opra on :

It is written on the form that "We are only able to revoke the contract by registered letter within fourteen days of the order date; whereby the date of postage is decisive." So lucky you still can cancel this contract.
Comment (1)

Vagelis on :

Thank you,

I got scummed my self, fortunately i didnt pay and i notified the Cyber Crime agency of my country (Greece)
Very happy to read your blog and feeling relief that people are taking action against this fraud.

Best Regards
Comments (2)

Tim on :

Jani, thank you very much for your work an communication on this. I just wanted to create awareness on them scamming also under the name EuroMedi, or European Medical Directory - we just received a letter today. The price has gone up too, now it is 977 euro already.
Comment (1)

Lukas on :

Just got this SCAM letter delivered by non sigend for to our company in Lithuania. The first impression was WTF and a suspicion of fraud, yet the letter is written in such a govt/law like style it doesn't differ at all from the official EU issued docs. Unless you turn the back of page showing TOS in greyish lettering blending with the background so you don't notice them at all. And by reading the TOS you understand this is a straightforward SCAM...!!
Comment (1)

Linas on :

Got this just yesterday to my workshop. Also in Lithuania. It seems that its searching new places to scam :-) Thanks to this blog!!!
Comment (1)

Erikas on :

Same here, we are a translation bureau in Lithuania and received the letter, actually all offices in our building did. This blog has been very useful. Had no intention to fill in anything and we will just file the letters for future reference if needed. The bad thing is because they do look official, so some people/businesses might be tempted to complete, especially if English is not a native language. That brings me also back to the letter, full of spelling and grammar mistakes, always a red flag.
Comment (1)

Krisztina Harangozo on :

Dear All,

I am from Hungary, and I unfortunately made a big mistake, I signed the EBN document but I wrote a letter them( after than I received the first reminder -that was too late) about that I WANTED to cancelled the contract!
I received the answer within a very short time , They wrote , this is impossible, I need to pay the based amount + interest within few days!
Yesterday I received the 2nd reminder.
Somebody can help what should I do?
Have I any chance to cancel this incorrect contract?
Thank you
Krisztina
Comment (1)

Anonymous on :

Krisztina,
Just calm down, keep your money in your pocket and pay yourself a vacation at Balaton. These fraudsters can NOT take your money in a legal way. Just if you send them money voluntarily.

They have no legal basis to enforce your payment. They have lost a lawsuit at court in Hamburg 10 years ago. There is decision of the German Supreme court that this kind of "Cpontract" is not valid.
Comment (1)

Mariann Rosendal on :

I have been stupid enough to sign this "contract" and now I have recieved the final reminder with amount, default interest and dunning fees. All toghether 925,39. I will absolutely NOT pay anything of this, but I am getting a Little scared that it might cause me trials and such stuff. How do I proceed? I have referred to European Parliament Petition 1176/2013, Petition 1180/2013 and Petition 1556/2013 in my last email, and prior that I said they could threaten me as much as they feel like. I am getting angry, and this lady is not a walk in the park when she has gotten that far.

Please give me some advice. I live in Finland as you can se from my email address. I am in the very same situation as Krisxtina Harangozo.

Best regards
Mariann Rosendal June 4, 2018
Comments (2)

Jari Turkia on :

There is not much to add here which haven't been communicated earlier.

Scamsters don't care about you lecturing them law. They wouldn't care about that. They are running an illegal business to begin with. And as said number of times, their business isn't about customer support. Its about gaining more unfortunate small business owners to pay. If you don't pay, they'll just move on.

Just maintain your cool and prepare to plead your case in a court of law. The judge there is more than anxious to hear about the petitions you mentioned. Also our "beloved" crooks know that. They WILL NEVER sue you to a battle where they have a GUARANTEED loss.
Comments (21)

Maria Antero on :

I own a small company and after receiving for 4 years letters from them requesting "update of my VAT number" i thought - "maybe its an obligation on EU"
and on the letter had written "free update".
And it came all, invoice, me requesting emmidiatly to cancell that i was not interested……. i have already sent about 10 emails saying its a mistake and the last i wrote in red big letters "FRAUD". I work 24/7, i have a family, small children, i cannot pay 890€!!! Help me, what can i do more when they start pushing us? I am in Portugal. Thank you for your help!
kind regards
Maria
Comments (3)

JB on :

Do not panic. You have two options. Option A) Just ignore their letters, invoices and any phone calls you may get until they give up. Option B) Find a German lawyer (Ideally someone who is experienced against DAD GMBH like I did) with a good price around €100. He will send a letter to DAD GMBH and after that you should receive a termination of order by DAD GMBH.
Comments (2)

Jari Turkia on :

Sir, thank you for double-commenting. Maybe one time would have done it?
Comments (21)

Maria on :

Can you help me with a name of a German Lawyer experienced against DAD GMBH?
Comment (1)

Dorina on :

hello, can you tell me the lawyer contact?Thanks
Comment (1)

JCB on :

Sorry for the late reply. Here is the link http://www.ll-ip.com/aktuelles/ebn-european-business-number-dad-deutscher-adressdienst
Comment (1)

Philippe on :

Boa tarde Maria, como está?
-entire-comment-removed-here-
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

Please, keep the comments in English so, that everybody can understand them. Ok?
Comments (21)

gorila on :

Recently, I have read an article on 2-spyware.com about DAD “Following the traces of European Business Number scam” by Alice Woods. (https://www.2-spyware.com/following-the-traces-of-european-business-number-scam#comments)
Some passages from this board have been cited there. The author Alice Woods claims that an executive of DAD is »a made up person«. However, Daniela Kunst exists but she is too anxious to reveal her personal data in public. She appeared on German courts and was filmed for German TV. Here she is on youtube in German TV show with her face blurred (1min 25s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEcXvpTsVsI
Taking into account how many people she has cheated, I guess she fears from possible and vendetta. I guess many people would like to meet her in private to “discuss” her business model.
Furthermore, she is equally anxious to appear at the Court Hamburg because any judgment by the court would devastate her business.
Observe the post H10.1 by JB who has engaged a German attorney for just !00 EUR. The result was immediate withdrawal of any contractual claims because, otherwise, refusal to comply with the attorneys' letter would end-up with court proceedings, judgment and the end of the EBN/DAD straw-man.
Cheers, gorila
Comments (8)

Jari Turkia on :

For all readers:
The above comment from Mr. Gorila confirms what I and other people have been repeating here:
1) Do not pay!
2) When things get tough, wait for those scamming jerks to sue you.
3) See the case get thrown out of court in a blink of an eye.
4) Epic win!

I cannot simplify this enough: DO NOT PAY! They got nothing on you. A fraud is something they cannot touch you with.
Comments (21)

Theodors Varaklas on :

Hello everyone,
I am also a victim of DAD/EBN. I am really fed up and tired of their letters and e-mails, which I answer and reply every single time.
Does anyone know of any lawyer in Germany who has an experience with DAD cases and which I can use to send through him a letter so that they can stop.
I am not paying, and I will not pay !
My very thanks in advance.
THeodore Varaklas
Comment (1)

JB on :

Check my comment 10.1.2.1.1
Comments (2)

A.S.T.V. on :

I also have been a victim of this stupid scam. They sent me tons of letters, emails, and now are calling me almost everyday (a German and a Czech number). I only replied once - to the first email and it was a pure waste of time. Since then I simply ignore them. The most stupid thing is that I don't own a company. In matter of fact I'm unemployed right now and with a cancer that probably will kill me soon...
Comment (1)

gorila on :

The best alternative is simply to ignore. Do not respond to their letters - this would just expose you to even more spam - They would consider you as a prosperous target. The choice is yours.
In this case you have two choices: (1) hire an attorney and sue or (2) wait the other side to move first (this would never happen). Your best choice is just to ignore these letters. Legally, they can’t get your money. But if you can’t stand uncertainty, hire an attorney to have your peace of minds. However, if you want to be successful in business you have to harden and understand your legal rights and obligations. You have to understand that you don’t have to pay every invoice, especially a fake one.
As far as I know, an attorney Jochen Seeholzer from Hamburg has experience and was successfull against this DAD fraud. I have learned a lot from his publications. On your request he will send a letter of intent to to file a lawsuit and will get in written from DAD that they abandon any contractual claims against your company. For them, this is the only way to evade a lawsuit and they would give in.
Good luck.

PS: Recently I have received from them an offer for 30% discount. I just laughed while throwing their circular letter to the bin.
Comments (8)

João Fonte on :

Hello, after several emails and letters between me and DAD i loose my patience and i follow the posts from this blog. I receive some days ago a letter with a "Final Reminder". I reply and say that another letter from they i will stay in touch with a law firm in Hamburg and German Police. I ask to cancel the contract right now. Surprise they answer this 2 days ago:

Dear Mr. ####,

We refer to the content of your above-mentioned e-mail and we firmly reject
your accusations. The form is clear and all important contractual points are
plainly featured. The plain terms and conditions were confirmed by legally
binding signature just below the order section. In addition, the details of
the price of our service are clearly stated.

If a legally binding signature is given directly underneath the contractual
conditions, where details on the cost of the insertion as well as its
duration are listed, then the signatory cannot expect to have simply updated
his data at no charge.

We must presume that our offer was not read prior to signing. Once you
returned the signed order to us and the stipulated cooling-off period was
not used, the order became irrevocable. The deadline had already expired on
##.##.####. In accordance with the general terms and conditions, a
cancellation within this 14 day period must be done via registered mail. The
date of the postmark is binding. A cancellation after this period must
adhere to the general terms and conditions of the contract. Your alleged
cancellation letter was never received.

As we would prefer to concentrate on a mutually beneficial collaboration
with our customers, we thus have no interest in pursuing this dispute
further. Therefore we have, exceptionally and without prejudice, terminated
your order ER######## and cancelled our invoice.

Hoping to have clarified the situation, we consider the matter as closed.


DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH
Alter Wall 65
20457 Hamburg
P.O. Box 11 35 58
20435 Hamburg
Germany

Phone 0049 (0)40 7511990
Fax 0049 (0)40 75119911

District Court Hamburg HRB 88115
Managing Director: Daniela Kunst
VAT-No. DE813739877

DO NOT PAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

THAT IS SO COOL! Thanks for sharing their reply with us João.

Doing what they do, simply threatening with lawyers is their weak spot. They KNOW they would lose in a court and eventually drop you off their list-of-people-to-shake-money-from. Nice.
Comments (21)

Joop on :

Het begint eraan ...
[Lot of uncomprehendable text removed]

Please, try to keep this in English, so that everybody can understand that. Thank you.
Comment (1)

João Sousa on :

Boa tarde Sr. João Fonte,
[Yet again, cropped lot of text out]

Again, I'll advise to keep this in English. What' you're blabbering won't make much sense to most of us.
Comments (2)

Maria Antero on :

Today i received another letter, this time from Legal Department - DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GMBH with dunning fees and handling charges. I responded by email with bopy to the european parliment press, saying:
Dear Sirs of EBN and Legal Department,

This email goes to copy to several entities. Also I will formally present charges to your company and spread the word to all press and all newspaper and televisions around Europe.
Yes, it will take some time and work.
But nothing will make me sleep better than to know that nobody else will be scammed and target of FRAUD by you.
THIS IS AN EUROPEAN SCANDAL THAT HAS TO BE REVEALED TO THE WORLD !!!!

You are allover the internet cheating on small companies like mine, and all history is attached.
Hundreds of small companies like mine made the mistake of thinking you are a EU legal company. You are just a false company taking money from small people.

I do not recognize your invoices, or your means.
I do not recognize any contract, any product or any service offered by you. Why? Because you have no service, you have no product you are just a façade to scam small companies.

• You sent firstly a document as a "final reminder" with signature as you had to have my VAT info.
• As hunderds of others, and as a small company I thought being european and working with other european companies I had to return it signed.
• And as described before it was a complete shock when I received an invoice of 890€ !!!!!
• After I say it’s a mistake, and that you have no service, you have no product, and I wish nothing from you.
• You say I have to pay, even so.
By law and by all explanations and by all justice you are the real description of a big FRAUD !

I ask you, again, please just finish this, otherwise, even being small, I will make this my life's theme.

Compliments,
Comments (3)

MR.D on :

Hello,
I am also a victim.. The first letter I got was in 2016, they asked to confirm my business information, I did it and did not see the price of 677 Euros... At that time I was afraid and I did not knew who was they and payed them 677 Euros. After that in internet I saw that it's a scam and in 2017 I ignored all of their letters and did not pay anything. Now is 2018 and I got a call from them asking to pay for those 2 years... What should I do? Is it doesn't matter if I paid in 2016 and now, when I know it's fraud I refuse to pay?
Please help me, my company is to small to pay that kind of money.
Comment (1)

Mats on :

Hi, i found a really good lawyer in Munich. I can highly recommend Daniel:

http://www.ll-ip.com/aktuelles/ebn-european-business-number-dad-deutscher-adressdienst

One week after he sent a letter, EBN let me go. I have never heard from them again.
Comment (1)

João Sousa on :

Hi,
About this EBN payment, what we must do?
Comments (2)

Mermaid on :

Nothing bro, you just need to send them your payment. Send them something extra also as a donation. Then next year you receive a new invoice and do the same. They are promoting your business buddy :-D
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

Aow come on!

I published your comment unaltered as I'm pretty sure it has a sarcastic angle baked into it. For those not getting the joke:
DON'T PAY!
Comments (21)

Free of DAD Scammers!!! on :

If you have written your name on their scam "contract", DO NOT PAY anything. Send them an email and tell them that you know that it's a scam and tell them you have hired a german lawyer, and that you will sue them if they don't stop trying to scam you. After 2 years of harassment from them, I did the above steps and after a few emails, I'm now free of them!!!

Make your email as threatening and believable as possible. If they resists, just keep pushing until they give up. They don't want to go to court, so in the end they will send you a message like this:

"The matter is unfortunately becoming increasingly unpleasant and complicated for both sides concerned. We would prefer to concentrate on a mutually beneficial collaboration with our customers and have no interest in pursuing this dispute further. Therefore we have, exceptionally and without prejudice, terminated your order and cancelled our invoices."

I was prepared to hire a lawyer and pay him 200e to get rid of this crap, but you don't need to do that, just threaten them with suing and they will give up!
Comment (1)

Chris on :

Please Post The Name of your lawyer!
Comment (1)

Mariann in Finland on :

Hi

Thank you for your advice. I had a long pause since June 25 while it was very silent from EBN, but today I recieved a very polite letter in which they have no interests and no other fees. I decided to send it to my Business law adviser for acknowledge and just ignore it. If there is Another letter dropping down in near future, I will do as you did. I am sooo fed up with this. And I have NOT payed a cent, will not do!
Comment (1)

Elizabeth Allen on :

I am now receiving emails and phone calls about debt collection ... getting very nervous. Should I enlist a solicitor?
Comments (3)

Jari Turkia on :

I don't know how things work in Portugal, but here in Finland there is a huge difference how disputes are handled when the debtor is a private person or a business. However, in both cases when you promptly inform the debt collectors, that the invoice in question has been disputed, by Finnish law the debt collectors cannot proceed until there is a court order. Naturally most cases are settled between parties before the matter goes to any court.

So, my best advice is still unchanged: Tell EBN jerks to sue your ass. When that happens, in a court of law, you will be invincible. I do realize the path to the point where they either sue you (happened once, they lost) or ignore you an move on to the next victim is a rocky one. Also, when they start ignoring you, you won't be notified. If you get sued, you kinda notice that easily.l
Comments (21)

NMJ on :

I've already received a call from the dept company.What can it happen after?
Comments (4)

Bin Xiang on :

Why do not get together and let's do a visit to this slicker company in Hamburg
Comment (1)

Elizabeth Allen on :

I had the call and an email from a Solicitor, who I found existed and has a Linked In profile: Ana Santos. That was a couple of weeks ago. As Jari Turkia commented, it is illegal (even more illegal than the scam?) for them to collect debts before sending you a court order. So far, nothing has happened.
Comments (3)

NMJ on :

It was only one time You were called from this dept company?
Comments (4)

Elizabeth Allen on :

Hi, yes it was only one time I was called by the solicitor ... so far nothing has happened.
Comments (3)

NMJ on :

Thank You,I'm waiting.If You got a new call,or something else will happened,please inform as.I will do too,if I will get a new call from this dept company.
Comments (4)

NMJ on :

Hello,I made contact the lawyers firm mentionated above,and they solved my problem whitin a week,the DAD nullified the contact,and they wrote a letter in which one they declare that they have no further financial claim.
Comments (4)

Scam on :

Do not pay
New web site
http://www.worldbusinesslist.net
per/year 995 euro
Do not pay
Comment (1)

Marilena Rizou on :

Hello!
I also made the mistake to reply to their scam. I ignore them since then (about a year), except for once, when I said that I don't intend to pay.
Last month they sent me an email with screenshots with my company details. I intend to threaten them again, more eloquently, if they continue.
But as someone mentioned above, maybe a group action is a good idea to chase them for good? I contacted the relevant Greek authorities (eg department of commerce) but I got no reply.
If someone knows how to start a group action, and how it should proceed, I would like to know about it, and participate.
Comments (5)

ElfNoire on :

Hi guys!
I have been getting mails and lately calls from Nina Gomez lately.

I have refused to pay all way long.
Any ideas how how to get rid of these peoples?

Thanks!
Jari
Comment (1)

Sassa on :

Hi. I have the same problem. they send the contract in August. The company was closed for holidays but our accountant came to pick up some papers and he found it. he thought that we left it there for him so he sign the papers and send it. We have not pay but know they send me a formal notice that if I don't pay in 5 days 2.313,00 € the for 3 years they will ask for European payment order to the court of Hamburg. What should I do?
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

Did you read https://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/389-EBN-European-Business-Number-scam-Part-3-Gorilas-findings.html ? A district court in City of Hamburg has declared their actions illegal. Of course, it is a different court handling different issues, but their decision is handy reference material for other courts too.

I still have not heard, that those scammers really had gone to court after they lost the case once. So, call their bluff. Simply by searching with the court order number "23.06.2010, Az. 3 S 19/10" there are plenty of people referring to it.

DO NOT PAY!
Comments (21)

Maria Antero on :

Attention, new format, new name, same scam!

this is the email, the story is the same. It means they are changing to escape authorities!

bellow copy of the texto:
********
WBL - register@wbl-register.com

Assunto: ***SPAM** World Business List 2019/2020

Hello,

In order to have your company inserted in the World Business List for
2019/2020, please print, complete and submit the attached form (PDF file) to
the following address:

World Business List
P.O. BOX 34
3700 AA ZEIST
THE NETHERLANDS

Fax: +31 205 248 107

You can also scan the completed form and attach it in a reply to this email.

Updating is free of charge.
***********
Comments (3)

gorila on :

Dear Friends,
There are some bad news and some good news. First, the bad:
DAD continues fraudulent activity across Europe, under the brand new name:
European Register of Commerce, or in short ERC (Look here: https://eu-reg.eu/index.php)
The boss is again notorious Frau Daniela Kunst,
Now the good news:
New name of company behind the ERC scam has just slightly but signifficantly changed:
DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH i.L. (Look here - https://eu-reg.eu/imprint.php- , at the imprint of European Register of Commerce)
If you read carefully there is a small difference: abbreviation i.L. is added. A small detail reveals significant development: in German language i.L. is abbreviation for »in Liquidation«. In plain English that means in bankruptcy. It is the end of DAD as a company but the scammers will survive and metastase in something new, equally malignant.
Take care,
gorila
Comments (8)

Jari Turkia on :

Thanks for the update!

Lot of warnings like http://www.ll-ip.com/aktuelles/european-register-of-commerce by doing a simple search. The new twist in European Register of Commerce is the GDPR-angle. Most of us really don't understand GDPR at all and it will lure more innocent entrepreneurs into this scam.

However, I failed to confirm the bankruptcy. I went to https://www.insolvenzbekanntmachungen.de/ and did a detailed search for Hamburg's court record HRB 88115. Nothing available. The search form is buggy and I browsed all Hamburg's HRB-records back to April of 2018, but nothing about our beloved friend DAD there.

Please, bear in mind that I do not know any German. All my efforts are done mostly via Google Translate. On other source, I found that something has changed in DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH company records in April 2019. Anybody having better understanding of German corporate law and/or the language used in the form would be appreciated.
Comments (21)

gorila on :

Dear Jari, dear Friends,
It is over, it is the end. Even the die-hard skeptics have now the proof that DAD was bluffing, all along.
There is no doubt:
1. DAD is in liquidation process and
2. DAD have changed their address.
First, look at the new title of DAD GmbH: (https://e-b-n.eu/imprint.php)
DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH i.L.
Weidestrasse 126
22083 Hamburg
Germany
Title of the company by the law must be accurate - addition of the suffix i.L. is not arbitrary - it is mandatory . If you find that in the title of a company, you need not to seek further. Omitting information that a company is in liquidation is felony punishable by the law.
Insolvenzbekantmachungen .de announces all German insolvency court decisions. Obviously, DAD proceedings are still pending. Hence i.L. or in plain English: in Liquidation.
Another indicator of financial problems is that DAD has relocated from:
Alter Wall 65
DE-20457 Hamburg
(Center of Hamburg, a prominent location near the Hamburg Town Hall)
to:
Weidestrasse 126
DE-22083 Hamburg
(Hamburg-Eppendorf, suburban settlement)
This all are good news. Insolvency of DAD indicates that affected entrepreneurs were predominantly prudent and courageous enough to independently resist the scam without the help of both local and European authorities.
This is yet another proof of the EU and our local administration futility. In fact they do what DAD does: they all take our money for nothing in return. The only difference is that the EU is much more effective than DAD - in harvesting undeserved money.
Sincerely,
gorila (male)
Comments (8)

Jari Turkia on :

Thanks for the info.

However, any court documents are still missing. Companies change addresses all the time, that's not proof of anything. It's not that I wouldn't believe this, I believe anything when its accompanied with proof.

In Finland, a change in company status, for example: court mandated liquidation is of public record and such information can be retrieved from company register. How would you achieve that in Germany? Any ideas?
Comments (21)

Pasco Paving Stones, Abu Dhabi on :

DAD ventures now into UAE.
Hopefully Mr. Adrian Wittmer or Daniela Kunst come to Dubai for holiday; they will be welcomed.
Peter Green
Comment (1)

Viktroija Janeš on :

Warning before the execution of the lawsuit

REMES D.O.O. against DAD GmbH
Dear Gsp. Victoria,
Order no. ER17523802
Based on a telephone conversation, I am addressing you from CLB Ltd - Credit Account Holder - our client is DAD GmbH.
According to the DAD GmbH company registration and for the commissioned service at www.e-b-n.eu the state of your debt is based on:
1. account no. 3336425 from 2017 on the amount of 771 eur,
2. account no. 3356223 from 2018 on the amount of 771 eur,
3. account no. 3366258 from 2019 on the amount of 771 eur,
4. Interest 385,95 eur
Please debit your debt within 3 business days to the account below, otherwise we will be required to charge our claim by court, which will unnecessarily cause court costs to fall on your burden.
Transfer reference: Order DAD GmbH, No. ER17523802 Full & Final Out of Court Settlement
Total payment amount: 2698,95 Euro
Account Holder: CREDIT INTELLIGENCE KFT, 1043 Budapest, Dugonics Street 11, Hungary
Bank: ERSTE BANK ZRT, 1138 Budapest, Nepfurdo street 24-26, Hungary
IBAN: HU46 11600006 00000000 77002842
BIC / SWIFT: GIBAHUHB
After making a payment send me a confirmation (swift) to email: ah@clb-solutions.com


Kind Regards,

Anna Horvat

 

PER. Box: 53734 | 3317 Limassol | cyprus

Tel. +357 25 270 400
Fax +357 25 270 440
Email ah@clb-solutions.com
Website www.clb-solutions.com

Dear, I have received a complaint against the lawsuit. Because, after many letters, they are foolish. What shall I do? And who owns this company that sends us a warning? Thanks in advance!
Viktorija Janeš
Pošalji povratne informacije
Povijest
Spremljeno
Zajednica
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

Thanks for sharing that info.

Looks like our beloved scammers have outsourced their debt collecting to a Cyprus-based agency.
Comments (21)

gorila on :

I have a proof that DAD is in Liquidation and consequently will cease to exist at the end of bankruptcy proceedings. If you are in a hurry to see the proof just skip to the bottom of my message and click the provided link. But, please continue reading – I have an important message.
Why is DAD insolvency so important?
This is a direct proof that DAD their «contracts» were legally void. Should the the «contracts» have been valid, DAD would have earned millions trough enforcing their rights at the Court.
Again, why is this so important?
After the end of bankruptcy proceedings some other company could have acquired these «contracts» and continue where DAD stopped. All assets of the bankrupt companies are usual transferred to other entities. However, the contracts aren’t legally enforceable and DAD has known that from the very beginning. DAD was just a scarecrow, from the very beginning.
Finally, this means that nobody is in jeopardy. All of you can throw away all papers you ever have received from DAD and have deserved peace of mind. Just stay calm.
Its over. Period.
Finally, here is the proof:
Official site of German Government, Bundesanzeiger (Federal Gazette) has declared liquidation of DAD oh April 4th 2019, here:
https://www.bundesanzeiger.de/ebanzwww/wexsservlet?session.sessionid=fbb7e663f69a183e967efd2ff25ba356&page.navid=detailsearchlisttodetailsearchdetail&fts_search_list.selected=fa11c18a16bfaaf7&fts_search_list.destHistoryId=69071
Comments (8)

Jari Turkia on :

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Yet again you came forward with crucial information. Now there is proof.
See: https://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/446-EBN-European-Business-Number-scam-Part-4-Epic-win!!.html
Comments (21)

m on :

I made same mistake,I am from malta ,they are now sending so called Legal Department dad ..I wish they take me to court to see them face to face then they will understand why i want to meet them face to face, if it ever happens you will see why Maltese are so called the small island with BIG BALLS.... Dear DAD you may be are looking to this post please take me to court ;-) lets settle it one to one.... GUYS DO NOT PAY THIS MOTHERFUCKERS..
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

You can kick back, relax and sip your favorite drink. Those MFs won't do you shit.
See: https://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/446-EBN-European-Business-Number-scam-Part-4-Epic-win!!.html
Comments (21)

Melanie on :

Hello,
I would like to ask about one company.
Do you hear about the company named: VRE - Your Business at Net GmbH? German company that offers net register?
Comments (3)

NM on :

It's the succesor of DAD Hamburg,or any derivate of that.
Comments (2)

Zsu on :

Already this company, VRE - Your Business at Net GmbH -sends the final reminder to Hungary, unfortunately to our company as well. I hope soon the police and the lawyers clear this cheat. Please let all concerned write letters to different places to get help. Police, lawyers, European Union, chambers of commerce!
Comments (3)

Melanie on :

I finded something for this scam VRE - Your Business at Net GmbH - http://www.ll-ip.com/aktuelles/your-business-at-net-gmbh.

Please help me to report them and stop this scam.
Comments (3)

Zsu on :

This lawyer is asking for money to settle. The goal is to make sure no one has to pay and stop the scammers! Help us!
Comments (3)

Fons Claerbout on :

I have had the same issue with them. They are now sending reminders every week.
I have informed the Dutch and the German Chamber of Commerce and filed a fraud report to the Dutch Fraud desk.
I have called them and explained the situation but with I see now on the internet, that explains all.
what do you suggest me to do?
i can send all info to you.

my major concern now is to stop this asap.

kind regards,

Fons
Comment (1)

NM on :

Try to contact http://www.ll-ip.com, they could help you to terminate the contract
Comments (2)

Jakub Nemec on :

Hello all,

My organization (based in the Czech Republic) also got caught up on this scam in 2015. Within few months we arealized this was a scam and we submitted to the DAD GmbH Notice of Invalidity of the contract due to misleading.
This was followed by gradually increasing payments requests and then today, we recieved the Pre-court request to settle for 2524.46 EUR from the CCF Credit Collection Factoring s.r.o. company.

They also attached a court decisison form the Czech Republic, the court in Prague, where the DAD GmbH WON the case and the victim company was ordered to pay by the Czech Court. We weren't able to verify validity of this Court Decission yet and also, I am not sure if it is already legally bound as there is filed appeal. However, if this is legitimate, it would be an unpleasant precends set by the Czech Court, in which case would amke sense at least for all the Czech Companies affected by this to join the court casesand share the burden of the court case costs, if at all posible. Feel free to contact me, if you are in the same position as we are.
Comment (1)

Ghost on :

Contact Daniel, he will help you for a flat fee of 200 €:

http://www.ll-ip.com/aktuelles/ebn-european-business-number-dad-deutscher-adressdienst
Comment (1)

John Bryan on :

I am also in the same boat as you, except that I'm in Finland. The CCF has charged my company a total of €4443 to be paid within 3 days or I will be summoned to a Hamburg court by the end of December. I'm going to get some legal advice finally to get some clear lines of action, or inaction. I have not responded to any of their mails, except the very first one telling them I would no longer respond to this scam.
As this scam company has already lost a case in the German courts it would surprise me if they allowed another case like it.
Comment (1)

Zsu on :

I don't understand, if what Your Bussines and Net GMBH does is illegal, why would a lawyer ask for 200 euros? Why does he not turn to the police, German law does not require it?
Comments (3)

Jenna Aho on :

Thank you for the blog & the research! We also signed this 5 years ago and since then they have sent us plenty of invoices, reminders, threats, done phone calls and now are threatening with German court.
We have never paid and will not pay.

This blog and comments have provided so much information and tips, and I truly appreciate it. Thank you
Comment (1)

Viktorija on :

They still not give up.
In 2017 same as other people we was thinking it is official letter. When we received invoice we started research and found out that this is fraud and our (Latvian) government warn people about that).


"
C.C Commercial Conduct Solutions LTD. is handling the above mentioned case. We hereby confirm that all rights and duties in connection with the contracts of EBN were bought and transferred to C.C Commercial Conduct Solutions LTD. (Please see attached the Notice of Assignment)

Your overdue account has been referred to ourselves, for the conclusion of judicial or extra-judicial transactions, as well as the receipt of payments of any nature.

An introductory letter and an order form were posted to your company by DAD GmbH (Publisher), offering advertisement possibilities in a graphically highlighted form on www.e-b-n.eu according to the general terms and conditions printed overleaf.

By sending the order form, a binding order to publish the submitted data in a payable insertion was placed. DAD GmbH (Publisher) carried out the order according to your request and has published the advertisement.

Despite repeated requests, you have failed to discharge payment until this date. In accordance with the International Laws, you are therefore within serious breach of the contractual terms that you had agreed to by signing the same.

Our records reflect you owe an outstanding balance of :

Arrears Balance:

Invoice EUR 771.00 -2017
Invoice EUR 771.00 -2018
Invoice EUR 771.00 -2019
-a new invoice for 2020 is still to be raised and added to the balance of your account.

Total Arrears Balance EUR 2,313.00


We hereby give you final notification that if payment or payment arrangements are not made within 5 days of this notice it will be apparent that litigation is the only option.

Therefore, if you do not wish incur the consequences of enforced collection on this obligation, please take immediate steps to settle your outstanding account.

Failure to respond to this notice could result in legal proceedings being issued against you.

Yours sincerely,



Andrew Edwards
Senior Credit Manager



P.O. Box 53683, 3317 Limassol, Cyprus
T. +357 25966100 F. +357 25966140
ae@ccsolutions.com.cy
www.ccsolutions.com.cy"
Comment (1)

Joe on :

I've recived letter from v-r-e.eu, sent them filled form. Now they sent invoice for 711 €.

They are pretending to be advertisement company:
Your Business at Net GmbH

Spaldingstr. 218
20097 Hamburg
Germany

This is their last reply to our mail to cancel the contract:

"
Your e-mails of 16.12.2019

Dear Mr.,

In regards to the above mentioned e-mails, our offer was sent to you via post and thus you had two options to
consider.

1. to update your current basic information directly on our website www.v-r-e.eu by selecting the menu
item registration,
2. or to place a chargeable order for a designed advertisement by using the order form.

The order form, containing the order terms and conditions, clearly state that by signing the form the signatory
places an order for a payable advertisement. A legally binding signature has been placed on the order form.
We have received your order and have processed it in good faith.

We cannot comply with your request for immediate cancellation of your order. The terms and conditions of
the contract stipulated 14 days after order placement for written revocation. This deadline had expired on
18.11.2019. We have noted the termination of the contract according to the contractual terms and conditions
stipulated on the form.

Hoping to have clarified the situation, kindly settle the outstanding invoice.

Yours faithfully
"
I've replied that our company is in bankruptcy process and we have no funds on account to pay..

After checking their website there is no advertisement of any sort there…

It seems that this is EBN like scam just under another name.

If anyone gets this letter throw it away. If you send form to them and they ask you to give them money. DON'T PAY !

I will most certainly not do any such thing.

If someone has the same issues please be willing to contribute your experience with them.

Like everyone says, just chill out and do nothing. Throw their threats in recycle bin or burn them. Relaxing with a cold beer in hand for 711 € through the whole year is much more joyable thing to do than loosing that money on this kind of a SCAM!

Thanks Jari Turkia for this creating this and all other blogs about this FRAUD.
Comments (2)

Joe on :

Aditional inforamtion about this SCAM apperance:

www.v-r-e.eu (VRE)

As they claim stands for:

VAT Identification Number
*R*egister related to the
*E*uropean General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

But this information is no doubt fake and fictionary. Comment: Or at least I didn't find any data about that kind of agency on Google.

The company VRE is according to the fillup-form published by Your Business at Net GmbH. On the bottom of the form, there is a statement that Your Business at Net GmbH is located in Hamburg, Germany.

As I was reading posts for EBN (European Business Nuber scam), this company (and many others) are also registered in Hamburg.

Another thread that I found is linking following companies to the same scam:

- European Union Web-register Republic of Slovenia/ EU WEB register Slovenija
- Euco Data,
- European City Guide,
- Intercable Verlag,
-Construct Data Verlag,
- Expo Guide Mehika,
- Euro Bussines Guide or
- World Bussines Guide

You can find this data in this thread (In Slovenian language): https://mladipodjetnik.si/novice-in-dogodki/novice/ste-dobili-to-pismo-vrzite-ga-stran

I can't confirm that those are the same frauds as I didn't investigate all of them, but I bet they were or are taking the same principle to get money from their victims.

Thanks to all that contributed to exposing those scamers.
Comments (2)

Paulo on :

Don't bother. Don't pay. Nothing will happen, these guys are after the 1% of absent minded people who will pay.
Comments (8)

BD on :

I already paide once. Now DAD wants to pursue me by a company in Malta, for two otrher payments
What to do?
Comment (1)

Gorila on :

Quite a few years ago I have send a signed letter to DAD, have received an avalanche of spam messages. I haven0t reolied except to the forst letter to refute their claims.
Never paid and never been summoned to the Court of Justice.

They have declared bankrupcy and have been liquidated.

Its over.

Now:

Do you really beleive this GDPR scam?
First of all they themselves operate against the GDPR rules.
Now, try to answer the following questions.
1. When have you given them a written permission to let some other company from, let's say, Cyprus to use your email address? Isn't that against the GDPR?
2. Why the reminders are send from some other country and not from Germany? (Hint: In Germany they risk prison time)
3. Why they don't obey the EU rules for debt collection and do that through the court?
4. Why the final reminder is never really the Final reminder? They will send you 100 emails with the final reminder because email costs nothing.

And finally, suppose some other company owes you money. What should you do?

I guess you would engage a lawyer instead of some Debt Collection Company fromm
let's say Sierra Leone?

Think. They are just intimidating you and that is indeed humiliating. Don't let them humiliate you because your pride is priceless.

My advice is: Simply, put all of them on a spam list.
Comments (2)

Lina on :

After 2 years of beginning of this misfortunate case someone called Jessica Brown, Credit Controller from CC Solutions P.O. Box 53683, 3317 Limassol, Cyprus T. +357 25966100 F. +357 25966140
jb@ccsolutions.com.cy www.ccsolutions.com.cy
emailed and also called to threated to pay 2313,00 eur or it will be: "Failure to pay will result in further steps being taken via debt recovery measures and extra costs will additionally burden your company." Case is in Estonia.
Comment (1)

Konstantinos on :

i've received a letter from v-r-e.eu and by mistake i send it back signed and stamped.

they do not termianate the contract and the they ask to pay.

can this company do something to mine?
what actions should i do?

Thanks in advance
Comment (1)

Vagelis on :

Dear Konstantinos,

No they cant do shit, they are an illegal company that uses misdirection to get money from companies.
I didnt pay and my lawyer also advised me the same,
I cant wait to meet them (not that they will ever try this) in court.

Vagelis
Comments (2)

Marilena Rizou on :

I have a very serious question about the company from Cyprus which claims the right to get the money. The notary s notice mentioned that was made in the presence of Daniela Kunst. Is it certain that this person does not exist? Do I remember correctly? If it doesn't, will they stop pestering me if I mention it? During these stressful days we go through, they continue sending emails and I wonder when it will finally be enough.
Comments (5)

Paulo on :

Don't pay, don't reply, ignore. Simple conmen trying to explore your fear. They can't do and never did nothing. They left me terrifying messages on my phone, sent me letters and emails. After two years everything stopped cause I never gave a sh*t about these criminals.
Comments (8)

Marilena Rizou on :

Two years?! Wow, you have nerves of steel! Thank you very much!
Comments (5)

Mariann Rosendal on :

I recieved an email from C.C.Solutions - M.Mancuso today, in which they threaten me with this and that if I don't pay within 5 days. I have been in touch with the police and with the business organisation I am a member of, and they keep saying "Don't pay". I haven't payed a single cent to them and will not do, but this is making me very nervous.

Best regards

Mariann Rosendal
Comments (2)

Paulo on :

Don't worry about these conmen, it's all bullsh*t. They don't have a single legal argument. Those contracts aren't valid at all, one of the pages is always missing, all the content is abusive. I'm Portuguese and they even got a Portuguese young lady who was threatening me over the phone. The only time I spoke to her, I asked for her full name and professional ID and immediately the call ended. Don't pay anything because you are only feeding these bastards.
Comments (8)

Nicu on :

After 2 years of beginning of this misfortunate case someone called Olivia Diaz, Credit Controller from CC Solutions P.O. Box 53683, 3317 Limassol, Cyprus T. +357 25966100 F. +357 25966140
od@ccsolutions.com.cy www.ccsolutions.com.cy
emailed and also called to threated to pay 2313,00 eur or it will be: "Failure to pay will result in further steps being taken via debt recovery measures and extra costs will additionally burden your company." Case is in Romania.
Comment (1)

ann on :

I was ashamed I had fallen for this and at times tempted to pay to make the invoice reminders stop and the fear of what may follow from Ms. Monika Ziegelmüller. I see it has been going on for 10 years. On further investigation I came across a German Lawyer and at first I had many doubts such as it may end up costing me as much or even more than the 2100 euro demanded for the three year contract. Also my anxiety kicked in and I began doubting if they were part of the scam too. My first letter to the lawyer was guarded but the law firm soon put my fears to rest with their professional down to earth replies. The cost was totally acceptable and their action was swift and I had a result in just over one week. You can write in any language to them and I can verify you are in safe hands with sending an email to office@ll-ip.com this is a Lawyer you can certainly trust.
Comment (1)

Paulo on :

I hope this is not a lawyer advert. You don't need any lawyers, these guys are just silly conmen. What proof do they have that is really your signature on that letter where page 2 or 3 is missing? This is not a valid contract. Just don't reply, don't interact a forget these bullshiters.
Comments (8)

Jari Turkia on :

This is a legal issue. If people sleep better to have legal advice involved, that's perfectly fine. Not everybody has the required balls-of-steel you and many others do.

As you mention, there is lots of proof these conmen don't want to actually go to a court of law to litigate their "rights". Criminals have no rights, so they don't want to call their own bluff. Their threat-letters can be intimidating and to remove the intimidation calling for big guns isn't that harmful.
Comments (21)

Lado on :

I received a third call for payment before the lawsuit a few days ago. Are they really going to sue? I received, however, the following notice;

Despite our previous warnings, the company __________still owes C.C. COMMERCIAL CONDUCT SOLUTIONS LTD amount EUR 2,703.00 due to non-payment of invoices under contract ________.

We tried several times to reach an out-of-court settlement, unfortunately without success, as we did not receive payment. In view of the above, we believe that your intention is to continue the legal proceedings and discuss the matter in court with further legal costs (EUR 1,850.00).

We are obliged to inform you that the lawsuit (creditor's claim) does not require legal consent or the presence of your company, so the case will be decided only on the basis of evidence provided by the plaintiff, on the basis of which payment is requested. The judgment is being implemented in accordance with EC Regulation no. 1896/2006, which has also been confirmed by your country.

However, before we hand over the case to our law firm, we offer you another option for settling the debt out of court, with which we want to reach a friendly settlement and close the existing debt.


To take advantage of this opportunity and close the debt out of court, pay the amount due within 3 business days so we can archive your file and stop the lawsuit.


The debt must be paid into the account below:

Account holder: C.C. COMMERCIAL CONDUCT SOLUTIONS LTD

Bank: SBERBANK ZRT.

Address: HU - 1088 - BUDAPEST-RAKOCZI ut. 1-3

IBAN: HU20 1410 0464 3345 1448 0100 0001

SWIFT: MAVOHUHB

Amount: EUR 2,703.00

Reference: ___________ - out-of-court settlement


Please send proof of payment to the email address below. When we receive payment, we will send you a confirmation of payment and termination of the contract.

Otherwise, we will submit the file for further court proceedings.

For all information and arrangements you can contact me at the contacts below.
Karin Zupan

Thank's for your infos;
Comments (2)

gorila on :

I had to laugh this time: the third last warning, but not really the last warning. Like a soap opera. Now, you may see how strong case they have.

All they said has nothing to do with real debt collection in Europe.

That is ordinarry scaremongering.

They gave-up with me as I responded just once, to refuse their first invoice. Since that obligatory step I have ignored everything

Ignore them, so simple is that.

I wish you all a pleasant weekend
Comments (8)

Paulo on :

It's their strategy. Just ignore them.
Comments (8)

Mariann on :

Hi again

This is what I recieved today, and I'm getting pretty nervous about the whole matter, despite of everyone saying I should ignore it. Now I have a contact person here in Finland who is trying to help me with this matter. They have also adviced me not to pay, and I have not (as I don't have the money).
How long can this go on, and who is this
CC Solutions? I know they are in Cyprus, but how come a law firm is taking care of such bluff-stuff?

Here is the email from them:
Dear Sirs,
Following our previous correspondence, we haven't received any positive feedback to solve the matter out of court. You are now to be contacted by Official Court Attorneys, who will notify you the hearing date. Therefore, you will be served a subpoena to appear at court where you can present your defense within thirty (30) days from the notification date. You shall receive this notification by end of July 2020. This court order is able to seizure your bank accounts and all movable and immovable assets (according to the European Account Preservation Order - Regulation (EC) No 655/2014).
On Thursday, June 18, the Law Firm RA Benjamin Müller (who was copied in this letter and was requested to provide us the registration claim number - the application is attached) is escrowing the official documents to the court of Hamburg; Sievekingplatz 1 - 20355 Hamburg (DE). MJ-Enterprise can prevent this legal procedure only providing the payment of EUR 4.443,46 (Four Thousand Four Hundred Forty-three/46) on or before 2:00 pm on June 17, 2020. EUR 2.670,00 per contractual fees; EUR 395,00 per collection fees and expenses; EUR 98,46 per legal interest, EUR 1.280,00 per legal fees. Court fees will be determined by the Court according to the German Law.
We are also obliged to inform you that such action will affect your credit rating and your estimated final disbursement (based on a previous sentence with Czech Republic clients) is between 10.000,00 and 15.000,00 EUR and the legal procedure may last from three years till five.
Comments (2)

Gorila on :

This is simple: do nothing. Limitation period is five years, but for undisputed claims, but don't worry. What they say is inadmissible in Europe, hence they claim they are from Cyprus. A company from Europe would have faced police raid for such practices. If you feel intimidated consult a lawyer to have your peace of mind, but do never ever pay. This is a proven ordinary scam.
Comments (2)

Tina on :

Dear Mariann,

please let us know - what happened then?

Thanks, Tina.
Comment (1)

fernando Matias on :

I carefully read the comments and in particular yours as I was also a victim of this scam / fraud.

I haven't payed a single cent to them and will not do, but this is making me very nervous.
Can you help?
Comment (1)

Lado on :

I am also interested in what is done in such a case?
Comments (2)

Jekaterina on :

Today we had recieved:
NOTICE OF OVERDUE PAYMENT- out of Court settlement



We Credit Business Resolution S.r.o. (CBR), Legal Department, Varsavska 715, Vinhrady - Praha 2, 120 00 Praha, Czech Republic, VAT No. CZ04367511 are instructed and duly authorized by our client DAD Deutscher Adressdienst GmbH, Alter Wall 65, DE-20457 Hamburg, Germany (DAD) to act on its behalf in respect to the collection of your commercial debt relating to the provision by our client of advertising services on the Web Portal European Business Number (e-b-n.eu).

According with our records, your company signed a legally binding B2B (Business to Business) contract on 13.07.2015 with order number ER15508836, ordering a premium advertisement on the Web Portal European Business Number (e-b-n.eu) managed by the DAD GmbH (Hamburg - Germany).

The marketing proposal provided all the necessary information about the characteristics of the payable ad: annual cost (677,00 EUR + TAX), minimum duration (three years) and possibility to cancel within the cooling off period (two weeks). Your company chose to fill in, sign and return back the order (no force whatsoever was applied) and by doing so adhered to a legally binding agreement requesting a payable entry in our client web portal. According with our client request your company never paid the service.

This letter provides formal notice that your company is in default of the contract for failure to fulfil its contractual obligation and today the Overdue amount is: 2.421,00 EUR as specified below:

• EUR 2.031,00 per three years contractual fees;

• EUR 390,00 per collection fees and expenses;

In anticipation of closing the debt under the said Contract / Purchase Order, and to avoid additional costs with the court procedure, we wait to receive your payment in a total amount of EUR 2.412,00 thus closing the debt of your company to our client.

The overdue amount has to be paid within 5 working days of receiving this notice, which is not later than 27/07/2020 to the account below:

BANK ACCOUNT:

Holder: CREDIT BUSINESS RESOLUTION S.R.O.

Bank: FIO Bank, Czech Republic

IBAN: CZ43 2010 0000 0022 0085 4528

SWIFT: FIOBCZPPXXX

Amount: 2.421,00 EUR

Subject: Order ER15508836 out of court settlement



We wait to receive your wire transfer receipt in order to settle this issue out of the Court. The receipt should be sent on below stated email address. After payment will be received, you will get from our side Notice of the contract termination and Payment Confirmation Statement, which will terminate all obligation from above order on both sides. It means that all your future obligation by this order will be cancelled with immediate effect.

We would like to call your attention and inform you that failure to use above offered solution will result in further action by our side and by our client , to recover overdue payment through the European payment order. The said court order shall be according to the EC Regulation No 1896/2006 by which your country is also bound as a part of EU.

Please note that these recovery measures will influence your company national-international credit score and further interest and legal costs will additionally burden your company, as well all legal recommended steps to cover requested amount, as report to your National Tax Audit office.



Attachments: - Copy of the contract and invoices

- Our authorization



Please review all attached documents and if you have any question or you want to make payment arrangement about this matter please do not hesitate to contact me.


Tina Mason
Senior debt collector

CREDIT BUSINESS Resolution s.r.o.
CZ 120 00, Prague 2, P.O.BOX 42
Tel. + 420 226 223 020
Fax. + 420 223 223 028
Mob. +420723536220
Email tm@cb-r.eu
Comment (1)

Marilena Rizou on :

Now they mention a cooling of period?! Ooooh it's our fault for not paying attention. Everything is our fault. Gosh this makes me so angry.
But of course they want an out of court settlement.
The mails from the relevant Cyprus company have ceased the last two months or so for me. (After 4 months). I hope this was it.
Comments (5)

Giorgos, Greece on :

i've received a letter from v-r-e.eu and by mistake i send it back signed and stamped.

i asked them to cancel the invoice but they answered that the terms of the contract that i signed is for 3 years, 711 euros each year.

Today i received the first reminder, can this company do something to mine?
what actions should i do?
Comment (1)

Giorgos on :

Δεν ... (lot of Greek-looking text removed)
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

Would it be possible for you to write your replies in English, please.
Comments (21)

ANDREAS on :

DONT DO ANYTHING !! TA IDIA ..DONT REPLY..
THEY CONTINUE TO SEND EMAILS FROM SEVERAL COMPANIES 3 YEARS
Comment (1)

Paulo on :

THAT'S THE IDEA!
These guys are only scammers, they don't have no tools to harm you. That fake "contract" doesn't have any legal value. In my particular case, one page was missing! Who can legally say that you sign that sh*t? The conditions proposed are just illegal, etc, etc, etc. Our lawyer laugh for 15 minutes when I sent him the first threat!
NEVER HAPPENED NOTHING BAD TO THE PEOPLE THAT DON'T PAY. IT'S A SCAM, STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO THESE GUYS!!!!!!
Comments (8)

windows on :

hi,

today i have recieved this :
/i have never responded to any of their emails /

Dear Sirs,

On 8 Sep 2020, you were reminded to pay you an amount due of EUR 2.513,45 based on contract no. ER17526647 dated 25.11.2017.
The total amount due to date is EUR 2.992,45 including default interest and recovery costs.

With this in mind, we urge you to pay the stated amount of EUR 2.992,45 within 5 days at the latest, to the account number of our company:
Order ER17526647
Amount: EUR 2.992,45
Account Holder: C.C. COMMERCIAL CONDUCT SOLUTIONS LTD
Address: HU - 1088 - BUDAPEST-RAKOCZI Tue. 1-3
Bank: SBERBANK ZRT.
IBAN: HU20 1410 0464 3345 1448 0100 0001
BIC / SWIFT: MOHOHUHB

At the same time, we would like to remind you that if the amount due is not paid by this date, we are ready to file a lawsuit with the local court. This would increase the debt by additional litigation costs.

(In the appendix we send a recent decision of the Prague court, where the judge recognized the validity of the contract concluded with DAD. Due to personal data protection, personal data were covered in the appendix, but according to File no. you can verify its authenticity).

Regards,

Nicola Marino
Litigation Executive
Comment (1)

Paulo on :

I've been there. Just ignore those scammers. They never did nothing legal because they can't. Conmen from start to finish.
Comments (8)

Paulo on :

Just throw it on the trashbin.
Comments (8)

Mariann on :

Hi again

After reading your comments about the letter some of you have recieved, I noticed that there are different IBAN-numbers in every letter, also different countries. Now, if this isn't a scam, then what is?? I haven't replied or done anything, but it makes me stressed and nervous, and I guess that is the purpose.

I find a big comfort in reading these comments, as I know I'm not alone in this mess. But still, is it true that I should not bother to do ANYTHING about this?

Thank you!

Best regards

Mariann Rosendal
Finland


Notice of demand for Payment – Without Prejudice

For the attention of the Legal Department and Management Team only.

Dears,

We are now serving your company MJ-Enterprise with legal seat in Finland and request payment of your long overdue order and account, this is now a formal legal demand and legal notice for payment in the full amount of 2670 Euro being the currently outstanding contractual value (legal costs, interest accrued, charges and fees not yet included but will be part of the legal proceedings and included in our application to the small claims court in Prague) regarding the attached breached contract.

For clarity and to be very clear on the matter, legal proceedings will be held in Prague, Czech Republic and once a ruling in our favour is completed we will have the right to enforce the judgement locally without contest, nothing distracts as you have been made aware that further legal action would be taken if this was not settled.

We are legally required to provide all documents to your company that we will submit to the court under the application to file a lawsuit against your company as listed below:
1. Copy of the breached Order/Contract detailing duration of contract, cost, cancellation terms, cooling period and service, in PDF format.
2. Copy of the terms and conditions of order.
3. Copies of the invoices sent by the original creditor which went into default.
Please provide us with payment in full by 18th November 2020 to the banking details confirmed below. If we have not received your payment by that day or proof of payment provided, We Credit Collection Factoring s.r.o. have the legal rights to enforce this demand for payment against the contract in the District Court of Prague 1 in the Czech Republic.

Case reference: CCF - Contract No. ER18527556 - Termination of claim
Settlement amount: 2670 Euro
Account Holder: CCF Credit Collection Factoring s.r.o.
Registered Address: Varšavská 715/36, Vinohrady, Prague, Czech Republic, PSČ 120 00
Bank: Česká Spořitelna a.s.
Bank Address: Jugoslávská 2578/19, 120 00 Vinohrady, Czech Republic
IBAN: CZ8108000000001951584253
BIC/SWIFT: GIBACZPX

Unless the aforementioned issues are resolved, this email formally places your company on notice of the legal requirements concerning document retention and expect you and all its affiliates to honour such requirements. You have a legal obligation to maintain and preserve any and all documents, materials, and information, in any form whatsoever, that may be potentially relevant to the subject matter, or discoverable in any potential action arising from this breach.

I am hopeful that we can still resolve this matter between our companys without going through Small Claims proceedings in Prague and you will honour your contractual obligations.

It is in the best interest of both parties to resolve this matter as soon as possible. If there is no response from your company by 17th November 2020 then it shall be our right to pursue any and all available legal and equitable remedies, including, but not limited to, instituting formal litigation proceedings against your company.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss payment options or require any further clarification.

All communication must remain in written form by email, letter or fax only for legal requirements and to ensure that no hearsay will stand and there is no confusion about the legal facts.

Regards,

Michael Richardson
Litigation Executive

CCF Credit Collection Factoring s.r.o.
Postal Address: P.O.BOX 91, Prague 2, CZ 120 00
Company Registration No: 04972881
V.A.T. No: CZ04972881
Office: + 420 226 223 020
Fax: + 420 226 223 028
Email: mr@cc-factoring.com
Website: www.cc-factoring.com

Email confidentiality & disclaimer notice
This email and any files transmitted with it are private and confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify us by email reply and delete it from your system. You may not copy this message or disclose its contents to anyone.
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
Comments (2)

Lad123 on :

I have today become a new email for a payment.
In March have a become a simmilar mail become from CC Solution Cyper. What next?

1. REMINDER BEFORE WITHDRAWAL OF THE FILE TO THE LAW FIRM FOR FURTHER PROCEDURE


Company Credit Business Resolution S.r.o., / Legal Dptm, Varsavska 715, Vinhrady - Praha 2, 120 00 Praha, Czeh, VAT No. CZ04367511, is authorized by our customer C.C. COMMERCIAL CONDUCT SOLUTIONS LTD, Costa Ourani 5,3085 Limassol, Cyprus, VAT No. CY10403265M, for debt collection related to advertising on the EUROPEAN BUSINESS NUMBER website, according to Order No. / Contract no. ER17525659.

Based on the submitted documentation, your company owes our customer the amount of 2,703.00 Eur for unpaid invoices (771.00 Eur per year + VAT) together with the costs of recovery.

Justification:

The issuer of the DAD GmbH form (original creditor) has sent you a written offer to advertise your company on the European Business Number portal. The offer was in the form of a written Contract / Purchase Order as a proposal for marketing cooperation under the legally defined conditions, with an annual advance payment in the amount of EUR 771.00 (+ VAT) for the current year. The order is valid for a period of three years from the date of the order and is automatically renewed annually if the order is not canceled within 3 months before the expiration.

In the same offer on which the data of your company and the data of the issuer were displayed, the conditions of participation were also written. It was up to you to read and accept them or simply not accept what was offered without any explanation.

On 24.10.2017, your company accepted the offer, filled in the sent form with the order form, you confirmed this with your signature and stamp, as well as by sending it in the enclosed envelope back to the address of the form issuer. By doing so, you have accepted the terms offered.

The obligation of the form has been fulfilled in full by the issuer of the obligation, and advertising according to the given information has been published on the European Business Number website.

There was no coercion by the issuer to enter into a business relationship, nor was there any time limit regarding the return of the signed purchase order. It is evident from the order form that you were also offered a 14-day notice period, which started on the day of signing it.

The amount due must be paid within 5 working days from the date of receipt of this reminder, ie no later than 17.12.2020 to the following account:



Account holder: CREDIT BUSINESS RESOLUTION s.r.o

Bank: FIO Bank, Czech Republic

IBAN: CZ43 2010 0000 0022 0085 4528

SWIFT: FIOBCZPPXXX

Reference: ER17......

Amount: 2,703.00 Eur

After receiving your payment (please send a confirmation by e-mail) we will send you a Statement of debt repayment and Termination of the Contract.

We would like to inform you that otherwise we will recover the debt together with administrative costs, default interest and court costs through an authorized law firm.

In the attachment, we send you all the documents again:

- Contract / Purchase Order

- Accounts

- CCS Debt Notice

- Our power of attorney

For all other information you can contact me at the contacts below.


With respect,


Tina Mason
Senior debt collector

CREDIT BUSINESS Resolution s.r.o.
CZ 120 00, Prague 2, P.O.BOX 42
Tel. + 420 226 223 020
Fax. + 420 223 223 028
Mob. +420723536220
Email tm@cb-r.eu
Comment (1)

La123 on :

Hello

I have become on 10.12 the first and today 18.12. the 2. reminder from a new company.
Our Chamber of Commerce says they have no basis.
It bothers me that now CREDIT BUSINESS Resolution s.r.o. claims on behalf of CC Solution Cyper, which took over my claims from DAD Gmbh. Can it get complicated here if it really ever goes to court?


The text is form google translate.


2. REMINDER BEFORE THE ACTION


Subject: OUTSTANDING ACCOUNTS DUE UNDER CONTRACT NO. ER1_________

We would like to inform you that we will initiate a lawsuit against your company ______ for the amount of EUR 2,703.00, which is currently not paid to the account of our client C.C. COMMERCIAL CONDUCT SOLUTIONS LTD, Costa Ourani 5.3085 Limassol, Cyprus, VAT no. CY10403265M. The western amount refers to the advertising contract on the European Business Number portal:

1. Overdue invoices in the amount of EUR 2,313.00

2. Administrative costs in the amount of 390.00 Eur

We request payment of the amount due within 3 working days from the date of receipt of this notice.

We would like to inform you that if you do not pay the above amount within the specified period, we will start preparing a lawsuit against your company. The litigation will incur additional costs, including default interest and court costs.

In view of this, we urge you to pay the above amount to the account below:

Account holder: CREDIT BUSINESS RESOLUTION s.r.o

Bank: FIO Bank, Czech Republic

IBAN: CZ43 2010 0000 0022 0085 4528

SWIFT: FIOBCZPPXXX

Amount: 2,703.00 Eur

Reference: ER17525659

Please send us proof of payment so that we can close the existing claim and stop the court proceedings.

For all additional information and arrangements you can contact us at the contacts below.

With respect,

Tina Mason
Senior debt collector

CREDIT BUSINESS Resolution s.r.o.
CZ 120 00, Prague 2, P.O.BOX 42
Tel. + 420 226 223 020
Fax. + 420 223 223 028
Mob. +420723536220
Email tm@cb-r.eu
Comment (1)

Vytas on :

Maybe we will all write a complaint to the European Parliament regading EU Business register ???
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

Good but ineffective idea.

The model in this type of crime is such, that the legal entity is so slippery it cannot really be held responsible. On the other hand, the fake invoices they spit, sell and re-sell are completely null and void.

Complaining to law enforcements officials or EU is as effective as shouting to the wind.
Comments (21)

Melanie on :

I believe we should report and download the company - Your Business at Net GmbH Hamburg and Monika Ziegelmüller” page from Google and write a letter from all deceived parties. We are consumers and as such we have rights.
Comments (3)

Sonja on :

Het bedrijf Your Business ...
Comment (1)

Jari Turkia on :

English, please!
Comments (21)

Joao on :

Hi there,
Some news about this scam?
Thanks
Greetings
Comments (2)

Jari Turkia on :

Nothing after this one https://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/446-EBN-European-Business-Number-scam-Part-4-Epic-win!!.html
Comments (21)

Joao on :

Hi
Some News about these scam.
Who pay?
Regards
Comments (2)

Jari Turkia on :

Please, elaborate.
While at it, also check: https://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/446-EBN-European-Business-Number-scam-Part-4-Epic-win!!.html
Comments (21)

Marilena Rizou on :

They are done and no one should pay at them or any debt collector. I see a similar scam in my e-mail box though. They might be the same people back for more victims.
Comments (5)

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