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Ontario Superior Court fines companies and individuals responsible for faux-Yellow Pages scam

By  |  March 4, 2012

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has fined deceptive marketers for using symbols resembling the Yellow Pages trademark to trick consumers. After receiving faxes from the marketers, victims believed they were updating their contact information on an online business directory. However, they were actually tricked into a two-year contract requiring payment of $1,428.

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    The operators of the scheme are five companies and three individuals: Yellow Business Marketing Ltd., Yellow Publishing Ltd., Yellow Data Services Ltd., Yellow Page Marketing B.V., Backoffice Support SL, Brandon Marsh, Jan Marks, and Steve Green. The Competition Bureau worked with the U.S. FTC, the ACCC, and the U.K. National Fraud Intelligence Bureau; the business scam affected people in Canada and outside the country.

    The contracts were declared null and void by the Court. Furthermore, the fraudsters were fined $9.035 million and must pay full restitution to the victims.

    Full content: Competition Bureau

     

    Related content: The Intersection of Consumer Protection and Competition in the New World of Privacy (Julie Brill, Federal Trade Commission)