Competition Bureau Issues Warning: Questionable Invoices for Internet Directory Services Resurface

OTTAWA, May 14, 2001 — The Competition Bureau warned today that all businesses and non-profit organizations should take precautions before paying bills or invoices received from the Internet directory YellowBusiness.ca, following the recent reappearance of questionable invoices sent to Canadian businesses and organizations for Internet Directory services.

The invoices appear to be a continuation of unsolicited mailings sent last year to businesses and charities for a listing on Internet directories YellowBusinessPages.com and Yellow Business Directory.com. The YellowBusiness.ca's web site refers to itself as "Formerly YellowBusinessDirectory.com.". Criminal charges of making false or misleading representations were laid last November, under the Competition Act, against the individuals and corporations allegedly operating YellowBusinessPages.com and YellowBusinessDirectory.com, with respect to last year's mailings.

Specifically, charges were laid for making representations that the mailings were bills or invoices for payment when in fact they were solicitations and that the mailings misled the recipient into falsely believing they were a previous customer of the Internet directories.

Last Fall, the Competition Bureau applied for and received Interim Prohibitory Orders under the Canada Post Corporation Act against

the individuals and companies allegedly responsible for the mailings, stopping them from sending or receiving mail. The Competition Bureau has asked the Canada Post Corporation to extend the Interim Prohibitory Orders to stop the delivery of mail to and from the new company YellowBusiness.ca.

Before paying any invoice, the Competition Bureau urges businesses, non profit organizations and consumers to:

• take careful note to determine if they have agreed to purchase the product or service involved;
  
  
• if you have any questions about an invoice, contact the company sending it for further details;
  
  
• if there is still any doubt, contact the usual sales representative to verify the legitimacy of the invoice;
  
  
• if an invoice has been mistakenly paid, assuming it was a genuine invoice for services rendered, contact the company and request an immediate refund.

The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that promotes and maintains fair competition so that all Canadians can benefit from competitive prices, product choice and quality service. It oversees the application of the Competition Act, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Textile Labelling Act and the Precious Metals Marking Act