Scam using Yellow Pages name targets small businesses [The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.]

Oct. 18--In 1964, the phrase "Let your fingers do the walking" was developed as the slogan for Yellow Pages.

Last June, Jamie Granados got a telephone call that made her feel like Yellow Pages was trying to walk all over her.

That call was not from a real Yellow Pages representative. It was a scam artist, trying to con her into paying $700 for online advertising she never purchased.

Granados' caller claimed to represent the "collections department" of the "Local Business Yellow Pages" company. The caller said the bill was overdue and pressed Granados to immediately pay up or face credit consequences.

The Better Business Bureau of Knoxville says it recently published a warning that the Florida-based company has been targeting small businesses in the area, attempting to collect for services that were never ordered or authorized.

The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance says it has been receiving reports of the same scam from around the state.

"They use the telephone to contact the consumer and try to hold themselves out as reps of Yellow Pages," not only for collections but sometimes to make bogus offers for advertising, TDCI spokeswoman Kate Abernathy said.

According to the Local Search Association (formerly the Yellow Pages Association), or LSA, such schemes that trade on the easily recognized Yellow Pages name have resulted in thousands of bogus bills getting paid each month.

"Unfortunately, these highly lucrative scams are a commonplace problem in markets across the country," said Wesley Young, LSA Vice President for Public Affairs. "We urge businesses to closely review any bills they receive requesting payment for Yellow Pages directory listings to ensure they are legitimate bills."

Young said legitimate Yellow Pages providers work closely with the Federal Trade Commission and other organizations to bring claims against the bogus firms.

In some cases, the scammers have used a tape recording of earlier conversations with the intended victim answering "yes" to very general questions. The tape is then doctored to make it sound like the victim had agreed to purchase advertising or services from the bogus firm.

When the scam surfaced in Connecticut last year, that state's Department of Consumer Protection found it had caused some small businesses to waste valuable time and limited resources to unravel the scheme. And a few had simply paid the bogus claim because they feared a legal battle that would cost them more money.

But the scammer who targeted Granados had no such luck, even though she had wondered briefly if she had inadvertently signed something earlier when a legitimate Yellow Pages representative had visited her in person.

"I was really stressed out," she said. "I thought that maybe I had screwed up somehow."

But there were some dead giveaways.

When Granados, who owns J&G Drywall Finishing, asked that she be faxed a copy of the contract she had supposedly signed, she was told that could only be done after she had paid. She didn't fall for that.

Then the scammers sent her a detailed invoice, complete with a walking fingers logo. But it had her first name incorrect. They kept calling with warnings to pay or be reported to a credit company.

Granados turned the tables. She called the company and said she would pay. "Within five seconds," she said, a woman was on the line eager to make arrangements to collect. Instead of Granados' money, the scammer got an earful.

"I just said 'I know you guys are a fraud,"' Granados said. "But even then, she kept on trying to collect, she said 'No, no, you must pay.'"

For more advice on how to detect and avoid such scams, visit www.localsearchassociation.org/Main/BogusBilling.aspx

Go to knoxnews.com at noon on weekdays to see the latest Watchful Eye crime map showing all incidents in Knox County. Also look for the Watchful Eye Consumer Alert every Friday on knoxnews.com, and in Dollars & Sense on Mondays.

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