Last week's story about Internet directory scams was as familiar as it was frustrating for LuAnn Schwab, owner of Blooms & Bears Florist and Gifts in Irvine, Calif. But like the florist interviewed last week, Schwab also fights back when scammers prey on her business. 

In an e-mail to E-brief editors, she shared her back-and-forth battle: "We received a call from a representative of Data Solutions saying they were renewing our subscription for Internet advertising, two years at $495/year, and we still owed for the past two years. We questioned, denied, protested and said no. They then said they were going to take our name and links off the Internet and turn us over to collections. They had never sent us anything over the past two years regarding their services or an invoice."

Schwab didn't have to go far for expert legal advice. Her husband, an attorney, told her that if anyone called to collect, to get "their name, address, contact person, phone number, and then tell them if they persist I will file a complaint with our state attorney general and the FBI, for fraudulent business activity."

--Morgan Schimminger
mschimminger@safnow.org

  

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