Overview
Data Register Pte Ltd, a Singapore-registered company and previously known as the Company Register Pte Ltd was back again in 2018. The company sent fraudulent business letters to innocent business owners, demanding payments. Their letters were crafted to look legally official and even included the recipient companies’ details, which are registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).
Local organizations, which had unwittingly signed up to be part of its database, were subsequently asked to pay a yearly subscription fee of $490 for using the services. This resulted in 21,780 recipients inadvertently subscribing to the company’s services and paying the subscription fee. According to the authorities’ portals, Data Register is GST-registered with a live company status.
Starting from January 2014, ACRA investigated and found Data Register guilty of 500 charges of scamming and malicious practices, with another 604 charges taken into consideration. Even after ACRA started investigating the scam company, Data Register continued sending out payment letters to new subscribers and demanding payments from the previous subscribers. This elicited controversies that affected ACRA’s public standing and reputation. In June 2016, the company was ultimately fined with $200,000.
Data Register is Back
Data Register is apparently back after two years and a massive fine of $200,000. A sole proprietor reported her predicament with Data Register when the company returned in 2018.
She first received a letter and an email from the scam company in November 2013. The design, logo, and content of letter led her to believe that it was something official from ACRA. Hence, she followed the instructions, as printed on the scam letter.
After Data Register was punished in 2016, no correspondence was received. In July 2018, the sole proprietor got a new letter which demanded for the new subscription fee together with the past overdue. The modes of payments include cash, cheque and PayPal. The letter instructed to make the cheques payable to another entity called Singapore Data Register Pte Ltd. The Unique Entity Number (UEN) and registered office addresses for both companies, Data Register Pte Ltd and Singapore Data Register Pte Ltd, are different.
Business owners who were entangled with the scam company are advised to remain calm and ignore all correspondences from them.
The scam company also has its own registered domain.
