Euro / European City Guide Scam

[kgun]

Google

Euro City Guide Scam

or

European City Guide Scam

Now it is no longer email scam / spam. You get seemingly professional written letters in your post box with logo and signature:

Martinez Cubells, 6, 4 pta.8

E-46002 Valencia

Tel +34 902 36 70

Fax +34 902 36 34 71

Website: european city guide

asking you to register your business.

At the bottom, it seems that you have ordered their service, that you heve never heard of.

They do not control whether you have registered, no ad or no phone calls in your country.

Here are the full DNS details:

WHOIS - eurocityguide.com
mail iconEmail link to results
Generated by DNSstuff: On-demand DNS and network tools to analyze, diagnose and monitor a domain or IP address

Registrar: ENTORNO DIGITAL, S.A.
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Dates: Created 22-mar-1999 Updated 11-mar-2008 Expires 22-mar-2009
DNS Servers: DESCARTES.ENTORNO.ES PASCAL.ENTORNO.ES

I was referred to whois.entorno.es; I'm looking it up there.


Using 0 day old cached answer (or, you can get fresh results).
Displaying E-mail address (use sparingly -- this will make it more likely that you will trigger our rate limiting system).

Entorno Digital's WHOIS database is only for information purposes,
this information consists on domain name registration records.
Entorno Digital does not guarantee the accuracy of the information
contained in the WHOIS. Entorno Digital allows the use of the
information only for lawful purposes, under no circumstances this data
will be used for: (a) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission
by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass unsolicited, commercial
advertising or solicitations to entities other than the data recipient's
own existing customers; or (b) enable high volume, automated,
electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of
Registry Operator or any ICANN-Accredited Registrar, except as
reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing
registrations.

Domain name: eurocityguide.com

Registrant:
EUROPEAN CITY GUIDE, S.L. (EDCO-000125)
info@eurocityguide.net
Mart�nez Cubells, 6 4� pta.8
Valencia VALENCIA
46002 ES
34.902363470 fax: 34.902363471

Administrative Contact:
L�pez Pelaez (EDCO-000126)
info@eurocityguide.net
Mart�nez Cubells, 6 4�pta.8
Valencia VALENCIA
46002 ES
34.902363470 fax: 34.902363471

Technical Contact:
Francesc Farriols Gombau (EDCO-000007)
francesc@entorno.es
Santa Anna, 32
Cerdanyola del vall�s BARCELONA
08290 ES
34.935942101 fax: 34.935921445

Domain Servers in listed order:
pascal.entorno.es 195.77.116.2
descartes.entorno.es 195.77.116.3

Created: 22 Mar 1999
Expires: 22 Mar 2009
Last Updated: 11 Mar 2008 12:57:21


So watch up.

Accroding to some of the Google hits, they have threatened people.

[chandrika]

Funny, I was just reading about fake invoices sent to people in th post, often for subs for something, that sometimes, if a business especially get inadvertently paid.

[kgun]

If this story

European City Guide scam threatens barber: ThePost.ie#

is about the same company, they are not amateurs. Look at the age of the site. Where is Spanish police?

"The scam involves a Spanish-based company sending letters to businesses about an update to its free listing CD Rom directory. Often it includes a request to confirm the company's address and website. Small print at the bottom states that, if the business does this, it will be billed for between €800 and €900".

The above is identical to the letter I received.

Assumption: It is the same company in Spain.

"An elderly barber in Naas, Co Kildare, who allegedly received a death threat from a debt collection agency acting for the European City Guide (ECG) has made a complaint to gardai, writes Neil Callanan".

Assumption: It is the same company in Spain.

Where is Spanish police? And Spain is a member of ...

<cite>
“We have tried to forward a case to the European Commission about ECG,” said Ann Neville of the European Information Centre in Dublin.
</cite>

I am impressed by EU and Spanish police that this Stop The European City Guide! site is needed.

[kgun]

Anybody that has additional information on

European City Guide
Martinez Cubells 6,
4 pta 8
E-46002 Valencia

and D. Millard

that operates the following two internet sites

eurocityguide dot com

europeancityguide dot com

I interpret them as being part of a large (international?) network.

They have operated with their above indicated business model for years.

The Norwegian flag is not on Stop The European City Guide! yet. But I have a feeling that they operate via a third party in Norway and
Malta??

There are also some companies in Russia that offer a CD service that contact me via email. There may be a relation. I have not got a letter / email about using their CD service yet, so I have linked to their site. But they have changed their site and that always raises a little red flag to me.

[kgun]

I think it can be fine to bring this post to the top if I find similar scam that will be posted here. Here is another Court Bars Canadian Company from Misleading Consumers in Marketing of Internet Domain Name Services similar though no so serious that I found today. So look up if

1. You get a renewal of your domain registration or hostiong that you did not expect. Always check URL's by cutting and pasting them to the address bar of your browser.
2. You get an email or written mail to move your domain to a new hoster or registrar.

[DaveSawers]

It may be interesting to note that thare is also a company calling itself the Domain Registry of Canada operating out of New York and targeting Canadians with the same scam. I assume the two companies are related and are operating from a different country to their target market solely in order to make it more difficult to discipline them.

Well done the FTC for getting round that problem and when will Canada take similar action?