My name is Jim Slaughter and I am an attorney located in Newport Beach, California. Here is my contact information:
Jim Slaughter
Slaughter & Slaughter LLP
2 San Joaquin Plaza, Suite 240
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Tel: 949-334-7447
js@slaughterlaw.com
www.slaughterlaw.com
I first learned about the Yellow Pages B.V. scam when I received an unsolicited fax with an offer that appeared to be a free listing in an online directory called yellowpage-california.com. Then I read the fine print and realized that it wasn't free at all, but instead cost over $1,000 per year. I did a bit of research and quickly realized that this was a total scam set up to take advantage of unsuspecting business people. Many people don't (or can't) read the fine print and don't realize they are binding themselves to pay $1,068 for the first year of service, and $1,068 for the second year of service unless they cancel. I put a post up on our law firm blog warning people about this scam, but I'm afraid that thousands of people have been conned into paying these scam artists. So I put up this blog as a way of helping people realize what an out-and-out scam it is. I've tracked down the European con artist who is responsible for bilking honest American businesses out of who knows how much money for absolutely nothing.
If you have received one of these offerings but have not signed and sent it back, just throw it away. For those who have signed and sent it back, I encourage you to resist with all your might. There is virtually no value in the online business listings on yellowpage-California.com, or yellowpage-NewYork.com, or yellowpage-Michigan.com. These pages all have a Google PageRank of zero (or nearly zero) so you are not going to be getting a lot of traffic from them. On top of that, anyone who wants a free listing in an online Yellow Page directory can go to www.yellowpages.com. That site has a PageRank of 8 (out of 10) so that is a much better place to list your business than on any of the Yellow Page B.V. sites.
I am happy to speak with anyone who has been caught up in this scam. We need to band together and get the Attorney General of New York to focus on this fraud and put it to a stop.
