Scam alert: "you agreed to sponsor a book"

[Andyhoth]

Ive just joined this group as you as this thread came up in the search results.

Ive had a call from someone saying I'd agreed to sponsor a book for a local school. Rang a very vague bell, so not sure if they've been in touch to plant a seed 6 months ago.
Said that I would get me name in the book etc etc, and they were ready to go. I could pay there and then and I would get a £30 discount. I declined, and did a little research. They have a website and a limited company and there are only one or two little warning flags - definitely one of the cleverer frauds.

Anyway, they have sent an invoice, which also includes a sample of the book. The company is Stepping Stones for Life Ltd, registered 14440652

<<personal details removed>>

Thanks to previous contributors. At least now I'm prepared for the call from the debt collectors in 6 months time...

 

[Andyhoth]

Ive just joined this group as you as this thread came up in the search results.

Ive had a call from someone saying I'd agreed to sponsor a book for a local school. Rang a very vague bell, so not sure if they've been in touch to plant a seed 6 months ago.
Said that I would get me name in the book etc etc, and they were ready to go. I could pay there and then and I would get a £30 discount. I declined, and did a little research. They have a website and a limited company and there are only one or two little warning flags - definitely one of the cleverer frauds.

Anyway, they have sent an invoice, which also includes a sample of the book. The company is Stepping Stones for Life Ltd, registered 14440652, <<personal details removed>>

Thanks to previous contributors. At least now I'm prepared for the call from the debt collectors in 6 months time...

Apologies -
Stepping Stones 4 Life Ltd, and the registered address is Mynshull House, 78 Churchgate, Stockport, Cheshire, England, SK1 1YJ

Could be the original scam operators starting up again.

Couple duped businesses out of £1.7m in sponsorship

The couple have been banned from being company directors after convincing small businesses to sponsor "unnecessary educational material"

www.cheshire-live.co.uk

 

[j.campbelladam]

I have received this is well.
Approached out of blue to confirm my road safety book was ready and pay invoice quick to get it out before the school Christmas holidays. First red flag being all the schools had already closed for the holiday.
They pushed to say this had already been agreed with my colleague, very much not true.
I was sent a prototype, very flimsy badly written book

 

[Mustard101]

Morning All

Google has brought me here.

Stepping Stones 4 Life contacted me a couple of years ago with a very plausible sales pitch saying that I could sponsor a booklet to a local school. I told them that I would give it some thought. They then started to pester me with phone calls, and I decided that it wasnt something I wanted to do.

Fast forward to last week, on Thursday I receive a call from 'a baliff' who had been instructed to act on collecting a payment (£5k) on a CCJ issued against me from a company called Frontline Media UK whom, I have never heard of and I had received NO paperwork in relation to any case against me or my company.

'Baliff' gave me a phone number of the court and a reference number and said to call them to have it set aside whilst I find out what's going on. They told me that its "something to do with advertising with a school" The only thing I can think of is Stepping Stones 4 Life.

Over the weekend I realised that I relied on the number he gave me, so I googled it and nothing came up, so I have googled the courts contact numbers and called them and they have no knowledge of any case against me

 

[Newchodge]

Morning All

Google has brought me here.

Stepping Stones 4 Life contacted me a couple of years ago with a very plausible sales pitch saying that I could sponsor a booklet to a local school. I told them that I would give it some thought. They then started to pester me with phone calls, and I decided that it wasnt something I wanted to do.

Fast forward to last week, on Thursday I receive a call from 'a baliff' who had been instructed to act on collecting a payment (£5k) on a CCJ issued against me from a company called Frontline Media UK whom, I have never heard of and I had received NO paperwork in relation to any case against me or my company.

'Baliff' gave me a phone number of the court and a reference number and said to call them to have it set aside whilst I find out what's going on. They told me that its "something to do with advertising with a school" The only thing I can think of is Stepping Stones 4 Life.

Over the weekend I realised that I relied on the number he gave me, so I googled it and nothing came up, so I have googled the courts contact numbers and called them and they have no knowledge of any case against me

This scam has been doing the rounds for years.

 

[Mustard101]

This scam has been doing the rounds for years.

understood, but I dont understand what they were going to get from me last week,

No one asked for payment of any kind

 

[DontAsk]

If they are impersonating court documents I would want to know where/how to report that.

 

[DontAsk]

understood, but I dont understand what they were going to get from me last week,

Trying to simply scare you into paying without questioning it.

 

[Mustard101]

I reported it to Report Fraud this morning, i gave them the phone numbers and all the info I had for the perpetrators. I have just got this reply...

Thank you for your recent submission and taking the time to report fraud.

When you report cyber crime or fraud, our experts review the information you have provided to determine whether a UK police force/ law enforcement agency could successfully investigate the crime.

On this occasion we have reviewed your report and, based on the information currently available, have allocated the following outcome:

19a

This is because:

A fraud or cyber crime, having been recorded, has not been allocated for investigation because the assessment process has determined there are insufficient lines of enquiry to warrant such dissemination.

 

[Mustard101]

Clearly its been put in the 'too much work to investigate' box

 

[fisicx]

Clearly its been put in the 'too much work to investigate' box

Because they get thousands of these reports every day. They just don’t have the resources to investigate all of them.

 

[FreddyG]

This scam has been doing the rounds for years.

Stepstones4life is rated "Poor" with 2 / 5 on Trustpilot

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As long as there are people who fall for this crap . . .