27th February 2009 - Warning over European City Guide

Linda McAvan is reminding local businesses not to fall foul of the European City Guide scam – after her Rotherham office was targeted for a second time.

Her warning comes during Scamnesty month, as Trading Standards offices are urging people to let them know about scams happening in the area.

The European City Guide (or ECG) is just one of many scams that operate by mailing out to thousands of small businesses, urging them to correct their details on a form - and in so doing sign a deceptive contract to be included in the "guide", in this case incurring an annual bill €997 (approximately £900).

About six months ago, Linda McAvan’s constituency office in Wath received the mailing for the first time. Today they received another copy – requesting a slightly inflated fee.

Any business who receives the mailing, or even if they have returned it, are advised not to return it in the first instance, and not to part with any money.

Linda McAvan says;

“It seems that the European City Guide targets a number of businesses in an area at around the same time, so it is likely that my office is not the only organisation in the region to have received this letter recently. My colleague Richard Corbett has been taking a lead in the European Parliament on trying to find ways of stopping this scam, but for the time being it still continues.

“If you do receive a letter, the best thing is just to bin it. But if you have already returned it, don’t panic. As far as we are aware, no court has ever supported the contract. It has been ruled to be deceptive several times.  But I know of several instances where business people have found the threat of legal action - sometimes in writing, sometimes on the phone – to be frightening.”

For more information about what to do if you have been targeted by the European City Guide, you may wish to visit the website of  Richard Corbett MEP - please click here.