Map scam targets local Chamber members
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Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce Executive Director George Malek displays the chamber's central Vermont cities map and counties map that the chamber markets to members for advertisements that appear at the map's margins. A Texas company claiming to be producing a map together with the chamber has no association whatsoever with the chamber, according to Malek. Stefan Hard/Times Argus |
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By Mel Huff Times Argus Staff - Published: January 16, 2008
BARRE – A couple of weeks ago, says Jim Breer, he was out on a job inspecting a house when he got a call from a woman who claimed to represent the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce. She asked Breer, the owner of Better Home Inspections in south Barre, if he was interested in renewing his advertisement on the map that the Chamber was putting out.
Breer serves on a Chamber of Commerce committee, so he wanted to support the organization. He asked the price of the ad and told the woman, "Well, if I did it last year, I'd probably want to do it again this year."
Half an hour later, a different woman called to take his credit card number. Breer couldn't remember having placed an ad last year, so he asked if she was sure about it. She said, "Well, we have all the copy here," and read the information that she claimed was on last year's map.
Breer didn't think much about it until last week, when he got an invoice for $300 from the Premier Map Company in Arlington, Texas.
At that point he checked to see whether he had bought an ad last year and found he had not, so he called the map company and asked to speak to the woman who had called him. "They wouldn't let me speak to her," Breer said.
Instead he was connected to Susanna Garcia in customer service, who told him the order would be canceled and his money refunded.
"I told (Susanna) that they said they were representing the Chamber," Breer said, "and she said, 'I don't know why they would have done that.'"
Afterwards, Breer called the Chamber to see if the organization was sponsoring the map. He was told, "No, but we've had several calls about this."
In what has the appearance of a scam, chambers of commerce in other states as well as Vermont seem to have been targeted.
Heney Realtors, also a Chamber member, received a similar solicitation last week. According to the office manager, Alice Wright, a woman named Stacey who said she worked for the Premier Map Company called, "just to see if we were interested in advertising in the map. They said it was for Central Vermont Chamber."
Wright took Stacy's contact information, an e-mail address and called the Chamber because, she explained, "Anything I've ever done with the Chamber, a representative from the Chamber has called here. That really made me curious as to really if this is a scam."
When she learned the Chamber was not having a map printed, she says she e-mailed the company back with the message, "You're not working with the Chamber. We're not advertising with you."
The Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce is not alone in being targeted by the Premier Map Company, which shares a telephone number (800-778-6308) with UniversalAd.com. A quick Internet search reveals similar operations involving Chambers in Iowa, Georgia and Washington State.
In some instances, the ad rep asked for the business owner's Social Security number and date of birth.
George Malek, the executive vice president of the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce, said, "I don't know what's going on, but I would love to find out. We are not selling a map at the moment, and when we do, we sell it ourselves. I have no idea what 'fraud' – I'll use it in quotes – is being perpetrated. Frankly, I would very much like to track down who or what is doing this."
Malek observed that it's not hard to find a list of Chamber members. "It's very frustrating. We've run into this far more often than we'd like to have it happen. We have plans to print a map later this year, and if a lot of our advertisers get ripped off on this one ... it certainly makes our life difficult."
When Garcia was reached by The Times Argus Monday, she denied that any member of the Premier Map Company's staff had claimed to represent the Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce.
"I don't know why anybody would say we're with the Chamber," she declared. "Maybe they're assuming we're with the Chamber, but I'm showing that we're not," she said after searching the company's computer system. "It's all up to the Chamber if they want to sign a contract with us. We're not going to pitch us if we don't have it. Does anyone have anything in writing?"
When Garcia was told that one member had gotten an invoice from her organization, she replied, "The invoices don't say they're with the Chamber or anything like that. They just have what they bought – what type of map, what county, what size."
She asked if the Chamber members who had been contacted had gotten any names. When told that one caller was named "Stacey," she said, "That's a collector for our department." Stacey was calling, she said, "because they owe a bill – because they placed an order. When our collectors call, it's because they placed an ad with us and we've been sending out invoices and never got paid, so we have collectors call and get a payment."
When informed that Chamber of Commerce Web sites show deceptive practices by Premier Map Company practices going on all over the country, Garcia countered, "Not by us, ma'am."
Protecting against fraud
As a protection against fraud, the Better Business Bureau of Spokane, Wash., recommends if you receive a cold call from anyone claiming to "represent" an affiliate, vendor, program or organization you are familiar with and it involves payment, that you:
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