The never ending drug scam
For several years, small businesses have been targeted by fraudulent publishing companies over the production of drug education and other materials for school children. It is still going on and the authorities seem powerless to stop it.
DrugScope's name often appears on these booklets and some have included text stolen from our website. We have nothing to do with this fraud and have dealt with several enquiries over the years from people who have been approached.
The fraud works in various ways, but it goes something like this. A small business will be contacted - we have examples of law firms, architects, pubs and estate agents. It could be any high street business. The business receives a phone call and is asked if they are interested in warning young people about the dangers of drugs by sponsoring the production of booklets to go into local schools. Sometimes the request might be to advertise - and the caller could say (falsely) that the company has advertised before. Of course, most community-minded business people will say yes. Then they receive a pro-forma invoice (and sometimes) a copy of the publication they have allegedly paid for. However;
1. The cost taken by the company far exceeds the cost of production of any booklet
2. The information provided is usually utter rubbish and follows no proper guidelines on the production of drug education materials for schools.
3. Some of it will be in breach of copyright.
Moreover, the companies are completely, fly-by-night giving false addresses, phone numbers and websites. Attempts to track these people down often fail because the locations simply don't exist. Much of this activity emanates from the north west of England, in Manchester and the Greater Manchester area (Stockport, Cheshire), but there are London locations as well.
Occasionally the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) manages to close one of these operations down (as they did in 2005) but another appears shortly afterwards. Most likely it is the same group of people and if so, it seems incredible that British company law allows this to happen time and again.
If you have received a pro-forma invoice of this type, you are under no obligation to pay it.
If you are working in the drug sector or education, please alert any business contacts you may have, by passing this blog on.
More details of this scam can be found at www.insolvency.gov.uk/cib/scams.htm
You can also fill out a complaint form online at www.insolvency.gov.uk/cib
And you can forward any documentation you receive to the Companies Investigation Branch, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H OET. Tel: 020 7215 4696
3 comments:
As a drugs agency we have been approached more than once about a similar scam - saying that a brochure or booklet is being published which will be put in every GP surgery (or A&E dept or other place) and do we want to support it?
A former senior manager in our organsiation was "persuaded" this was a good idea. An unexpected invoice duly arrived with an amount equivalent to a full page ad in a national newspaper.....
Having dealt with this I was amazed to be approached by another company trying exactly the same thinga few weeks later!
it just goes to show how naive and unfixed in the real world are the managers of drug services...these cons work, regularly...if you are gullable and a sucker,with a large ego that loves self promotion
much drug treatment in the UK could be described as 'kids stuff,'run by gullable and uncritical fools
Hi Harry! I appreciate your post. Anyway, the scam is really ridiculous, taking advantage of the proliferation of drug addiction. I am glad that nothing of that sort happens to other drug-related entities such as rehabs because if that is the case, the drug treatment programs will be exaggeratedly affected. Thanks again for the article, Harry!
--cha
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