Virginia SEO Christopher Dill Ypedia.com Scam for $327, Sent To Collections North Chesterfield Virginia

I received a form in the mail offering a free business listing. I scoured the form looking for small print and found none. I do SEO and marketing for a living, and I know that business listing directories are low value- I would NEVER pay for one. The form I received was this, I blanked out my personal information for security purposes:

cl.ly/image/1n343j3D2L2g

3 months later, I get an email from a customer rep at ypedia stating that my account was 90 days past due and headed to collections. Here is the email, including the contact information of the representative:

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I replied to this email with a message along the lines of "Stop spamming me scam artist". I then received an email from a collection agency Barnaby and Wolfe in Texas. The email from them is below, including the contact info for the account rep at the collection agency:

http://cl.ly/image/2v1E3u1R470r

I called him, and he said that I had to pay and it was a valid debt. He said that they had not sent the information to the credit agencies yet because it costs them money, and they would rather settle with me first. He (without asking) offered me a lower rate of $298. I accepted that, and I paid with my debit card over the phone. After the charge went through, I did a whole bunch of research and finally decided that this is 100% fraud. I called my bank and filed a fraud claim and changed all of my banking information, account numbers and cancelled my debit card.

I then sent documentation of all of this to my bank. For reference, here are the reports about this specific company:

Ripoff Report ypediapromotions.com: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/yellow-pages-online-services/irving-texas-75063/yellow-pages-online-services-ypediapromotionscom-scam-yellow-pages-online-services-yel-1182823

Ripoff Report ypedia.com: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/specific_search/ypedia.com

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Ypediacom-yellow-pages/internet/Ypediacom-yellow-pages-online-SCAM-RIP-OFF-Irving-TX-Ypedia-yellow-pages-online-services-1175676

BBB ypedia: bbb.org/dallas/business-reviews/advertising-directory-and-guide/topaz-promotions-in-dallas-tx-90531481

BBB Barnaby and Wolfe:.bbb.org/fort-worth/Business-Reviews/collection-agencies/barnaby-wolfe-inc-in-grapevine-tx-235969212/complaints

General report on Yellow Pages Fraud:givemebackmycredit.com/blog/2012/03/fraudulent-yellow-page-listing-scam---beware-its-back.html

business.ftc.gov/documents/0512-small-business-scams

As you can see, all businesses involved here are fraudulent and all rated F on the BBB and full of customer complaints. Furthermore, all companies involved are listed here at ripoffreport.com and have multiple listings.

My next steps are:

Contact my lawyer and present documentation (already done)

Contact the domain registrar involved and report the scam (already done, GoDaddy)

File a BBB report (already done)

File a RipoffReport (this is it)

Contact the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft Hotline, toll free: 1-877-438-4338; TTY: 1-866-653-4261.

Contact the National Fraud Center:

C/O National Consumers League
1701 K Street NW, Suite 1200
Washington, DC 20006

Contact the Attourney General's office for Virginia.

If or when they file my account to the credit bureaus I will fight that with disputes for fraud and documentation as well.