Abco Design - alibaba - stanley brian is a rip off artist and doesn't deliver the goods. London United Kingdom

ABCo Design Ltd is a small UK company which designs and develops software for children with learning difficulties. It licenses this software to a major UK publisher and receives a royalty from them in return. It does not and never has dealt in hardware of any kind. It does not and has not sold directly to the public.

It came to our notice some time ago that our company's identity has been stolen and used by a Mr Stanley Brian. We have contacted all the ISP's who host his adverts and have made every attempt to get these removed. Unfortunately, the people who host his adverts have not co-operated and refused to help in stopping his activities. Several years ago, we put up a simple web page at http://www.abcodesign.co.uk to warn people of this illegal activity and to tell them not to deal with him.

Over the years, we have had many phone calls from people who wished to trade with this person, some who have already sent him money and have had one person who travelled from Germany to visit our home in the UK (where the company is registered) in order to find out what has happened to their money. The visitor, we escorted to the local police station in order to file a report.

It seems that the people who have lost money to this crook have sent cash via Western Union and have no way of knowing where that money went. None of this was ever received by us and none was paid into the account of ABCo Design Ltd in London.

Unfortunately, we have no control over the use of the name ABCo Design Ltd in any jurisdiction except the UK and cannot, therefore, be held responsible for any trading taking place under this name outside the UK.

The complaint you received states that your informant dealt with a Mr Stanley Brian yet you appear to accuse ABCo Design Ltd of internet fraud. Our company is registered with Companies House in London, files its accounts regularly and complies fully with all the strict requirements laid down for the operation of a limited company in the UK. We request, therefore, that you correct the misinformation displayed on your web site and remove any references to ABCo Design Ltd which might adversly affect its future operations.

I will be pleased to supply any further information about this case, should you require any,

Regards,

Dr Peter Holmes