The problem involves people who pretend to be compilers of local business guides and who appear in mass mailings to offer free advertising to businesses. However, locked away in the small print of the application for the free ad are costs and charges for paid advertising, often at extortionate rates. To make matters worse, the guides themselves may never materialise or, if they do, they are so worthless documents that recipients throw them away immediately.

Scammers are increasingly turning to the internet, because of the low cost of mass email campaigns, and because, compared to even an inferior print publication, a website costs virtually nothing to set up.

Business people who spot the scam, or suspect the offer is too good to be true, will ignore the pitch. But those who are too busy or careless to see the hidden charges later find themselves facing large bills for advertising they neither want nor need.

Some legal action has been taken successfully, Unizo said, “but this remains a tough virus that’s tiring and difficult to eradicate. The profits for criminals seem big enough to make it worth turning up under another name, either here or abroad,” the organisation said.

One recent offender is a company calling itself Tele Verzeichnis Verlag, which was the subject of more than 1,000 complaints in October last year. They operated out of Hamburg in Germany, but aimed massively at the Flemish market. Their approach was to send companies a “proof” of their free advertisement for correction. When the company replied with the corrections, of which there were always some, TVV landed them with a charge of €987 a year for three years. The contract, in Dutch, makes it clear that German law is applicable in case of disputes, and undertakes to respond to correspondence in English and German only, in the hope of discouraging enquiries or complaints.

Typical tricks include calling at peak times when the business owner will be under maximum pressure, or asking to speak to a junior member of staff who can be convinced that the business owner has already approved the ad.

Unizo advises business owners to warn their staff of the existence of the problem. They should never allow staff to pay cash on demand when representatives come to call and always check the “publishers” of these guides and their track records.

For business owners themselves, the Unizo site offers links to sample contracts from the scammers, as well as to the official complaints form of the economic inspection service. Most important: if in any doubt at all, throw the offer of a free ad away. If you can’t remember ordering any advertising from a guide you never heard of, the chances are you didn’t.

www.unizo.be