Tag: SPAM

And, of course, we get yet another unsolicited business name renewal letter. Online Business Registration Pty Ltd has been sending unsolicited mail (physical) to Australian businesses for at least 3 years that we can see and we just got one.

Their letters haven’t changed since our last example, except for their address, and probably do better job at mentioning this is not a letter from ASIC than others. It’s still an unsolicited commercial offer for them to renew it for you with an extra fee.
They are able to do this as a private service provider (PSP).

Business names can be registered or renewed directly with the Australian Securities and Investment Commision (ASIC) on their website.
https://asic.gov.au/for-business/renewing-your-business-name/
The current rates are one year for $39 or three years for $92

Online Business Registration Pty Ltd doesn’t tell you their price on the letter but if you follow the link to their website, enter all your personal details and look in the cart, you will see they are offering to renew your business name for you for $99 for one year or $199 for three years.

This doesn’t seem like very good value.

Speaking of cost, ASIC states that PSPs must:

Set out your fees
Ensure that information given to customers about fees you charge clearly separate fees charged by ASIC, and service fees charged by you as a service provider.

Online Business Registration Pty Ltd is only listing a combined fee for renewal which does not meet ASIC requirements.

Another note is that business names can’t actually be renewed more than 60 days before expiry. ASIC also states that a PSP cannot:

Send you a letter in the mail offering to renew your business name earlier than 2 months before your expiry date

So in this case, Online Business Registration Pty Ltd has also breached ASIC PSP rules by sending the renewal well in advance of two months.

ASIC has information about private service providers on their webpage, including their expectations.
Most PSPs have started behaving better by making their unsolicited mail comply to ASICs requirements to state that it is NOT a letter from ASIC and use less confusing and deceptive formatting. Still, these letters catch many business owners out and you will find many complaints online. We can also see many PSPs are not complying with other rules like fees and timelines.

It seems like ASIC is only going to do something about these service providers if they receive enough complaints about their behavior.
If you receive renewal offers, you should check that they comply with guidelines and report companies that clearly don’t.
We would also like ASIC to also restrict these organizations from contacting business name owners by mail unless consent has already been given, in line with their restriction on email contact.

Information contained in letter:
Company: Online Business Registration Pty Ltd
ABN: 36 618 716 019
Address: PO Box 491 – Suite 1111, Kellyville NSW 2155 (mail forwarding service aussiemailman.com.au)
Phone: 1300 651 752
Website: www.brenewal.com.au
Email: support@brenewal.com
Contact Name on Letter: Victoria Kur
Domain Registrant Contact Name: Csilla Vinkovicsne Caroli

ABN also associated with other names, some of which violate ASIC guidance.

Do not use marketing that may mislead customers
Do not operate under a business name that may make customers think ASIC endorses or authorises your services. For example, you must not use words such as ‘ASIC’ or ‘Business Name’ in your business name.

Interesting in this list is NAVTARANG AUSTRALIA DJ DHIREN in Fairfield NSW and DARK SIDE OF BEAUTY in Berserker QLD which ONLINE BUSINESS REGISTRATION PTY LTD is listed as a Holder Type of Body Corporate.

An information request from the ASIC website, which anyone can do, shows the following:

Registered address: SMART SKIN CHECK PTY LTD, ‘903’, 50 Clarence
Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000
Start date: 28/12/2018

Principal Place Of Business address:
‘903’, 50 Clarence Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000
Start date: 10/12/2018

It’s a little odd the registered address and principal place of business is a Skin clinic?

Contact Address
Address: PO BOX 199, WERRIBEE VIC 3030
Start date: 24/11/2021

A contact address in a different state.

Director
Name: CSILLA VINKOVICSNE CAROLI
Address: 40 Robin Avenue, NORLANE VIC 3214
Appointment date: 24/04/2017

Secretary
Name: CSILLA VINKOVICSNE CAROLI
Address: 40 Robin Avenue, NORLANE VIC 3214
Appointment date: 24/04/2017

Ultimate Holding Company
Name: DELPHI FINANCIAL GROUP HUNGARY LTD.
Org No.: 616 014 521

A Victorian address for the Director which seems to match some other reporting about this company from 2017 / 2018 with Victorian addresses.

The Delphi Financial Group Hungary Ltd is the complete share holder of the company and is located in Hungary. Interesting reading in this thread on Whirlpool with someone suggesting this organization may either be being used as a fake address or is part of a larger group of scammers. We don’t know.
Also in this thread is discussion of Registration and Registry Australia’s behavior who we also recently received unsolicited business name renewal correspondence from.

Name: DELPHI FINANCIAL GROUP HUNGARY LTD.
Org No.: 616 014 521
Address: Level 2 Unit 14, 57 Podmaniczky Street, Budapest, 1064, Hungary

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Well, with one unsolicited mail (physical) to renewal a business name comes another. Registration Pty Ltd offering to renew a business name with an unsolicited letter.

Their letters could appear at first glance to be a renewal notice for your Australian Business Name Registration but are in fact an unsolicited commercial offer for them to renew it for you with an extra fee.
They are able to do this as a private service provider (PSP).

Business names can be registered or renewed directly with the Australian Securities and Investment Commision (ASIC) on their website.
https://asic.gov.au/for-business/renewing-your-business-name/
The current rates are one year for $39 or three years for $92

Registration Pty Ltd is offering to renew your business name for you for $99 for one year or $199 for three years.

This doesn’t seem like very good value. Speaking of cost, ASIC states that PSPs must:

Set out your fees
Ensure that information given to customers about fees you charge clearly separate fees charged by ASIC, and service fees charged by you as a service provider.

Registration Pty Ltd is only listing a combined fee for renewal which does not meet ASIC requirements.

Another note is that business names can’t actually be renewed more than 60 days before expiry. ASIC also states that a PSP cannot:

Send you a letter in the mail offering to renew your business name earlier than 2 months before your expiry date

So in this case, Registration Pty Ltd has also breached ASIC PSP rules by sending the renewal well in advance of two months.

ASIC has information about private service providers on their webpage, including their expectations.
Most PSPs have started behaving better by making their unsolicited mail comply to ASICs requirements to state that it is NOT a letter from ASIC and use less confusing and deceptive formatting. Still, these letters catch many business owners out and you will find many complaints online. We can also see many PSPs are not complying with other rules like fees and timelines.

It seems like ASIC is only going to do something about these service providers if they receive enough complaints about their behavior.
If you receive renewal offers, you should check that they comply with guidelines and report companies that clearly don’t.
We would also like ASIC to also restrict these organizations from contacting business name owners by mail unless consent has already been given, in line with their restriction on email contact.

Information contained in letter:
Company: Registration Pty Ltd
ACN: 641 933 173
Address: Level 45 / 680 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000 (serviced office)
Phone: 1300 060 066
Website: www.reg.com.au
Registrant: REGISTRATION PTY LTD
Registrant ID: ABN 66641933173

An information request from the ASIC website, which anyone can do, shows the following:

Registered address: 59A West Coast Drive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
Start date: 08/06/2021

Principal Place Of Business address:
59A West Coast Drive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
Start date: 01/06/2021

Director
Name: ROBERT KAAY
Address: 59A West Coast Drive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
Appointment date: 22/06/2020

Secretary
Name: ROBERT KAAY
Address: 59A West Coast Drive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020
Appointment date: 22/06/2020

100% shareholders of this company are:

Name: SILVERBIRCH GROUP PTY LTD
ACN: 626 920 287
Address: 59A West Coast Driive, WATERMANS BAY WA 6020

What is interesting in the above is the name Robert Kaay. This person was also linked another business name renewal service, Registry Australia Pty Ltd. This might explain why the renewal prices are the same. Perhaps they sold the original business and started the same thing again with a new name?

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Welcome to 2023. Must be time to renew some business names.
Registry Australia Pty Ltd has been sending unsolicited mail (physical) to Australian businesses for some time and it appears they will unless the government changes the guidelines to stamp this behavior out.

Their letters could appear at first glance to be a renewal notice for your Australian Business Name Registration but are in fact an unsolicited commercial offer for them to renew it for you with an extra fee.
They are able to do this as a private service provider (PSP).

Business names can be registered or renewed directly with the Australian Securities and Investment Commision (ASIC) on their website.
https://asic.gov.au/for-business/renewing-your-business-name/
The current rates are one year for $39 or three years for $92

Registry Australia Pty Ltd is offering to renew your business name for you for $99 for one year or $199 for three years.

This doesn’t seem like very good value. Speaking of cost, ASIC states that PSPs must:

Set out your fees
Ensure that information given to customers about fees you charge clearly separate fees charged by ASIC, and service fees charged by you as a service provider.

Registry Australia Pty Ltd is only listing a combined fee for renewal which does not meet ASIC requirements.

Another note is that business names can’t actually be renewed more than 60 days before expiry. ASIC also states that a PSP cannot:

Send you a letter in the mail offering to renew your business name earlier than 2 months before your expiry date

So in this case, Registry Pty Ltd has also breached ASIC PSP rules by sending the renewal well in advance of two months.

ASIC has information about private service providers on their webpage, including their expectations.
Most PSPs have started behaving better by making their unsolicited mail comply to ASICs requirements to state that it is NOT a letter from ASIC and use less confusing and deceptive formatting. Still, these letters catch many business owners out and you will find many complaints online. We can also see many PSPs are not complying with other rules like fees and timelines.

It seems like ASIC is only going to do something about these service providers if they receive enough complaints about their behavior.
If you receive renewal offers, you should check that they comply with guidelines and report companies that clearly don’t.
We would also like ASIC to also restrict these organizations from contacting business name owners by mail unless consent has already been given, in line with their restriction on email contact.

Information contained in letter:
Company: Registry Australia Pty Ltd
ABN: 34 625 637 023
Address: Level 14 / 333 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000 (serviced office)
Phone: 1300 070 000
Website: www.registry.com.au
Domain Registrant Contact Name: Technical Administrator
Domain Registrant Contact Email: admin@registry.com.au

ABN is also associated with other names, some of which violate ASIC guidance and which we mentioned on our last post.

Do not use marketing that may mislead customers
Do not operate under a business name that may make customers think ASIC endorses or authorises your services. For example, you must not use words such as ‘ASIC’ or ‘Business Name’ in your business name.

Last time we did research about the domain and company, it pointed to Robert Kaay of Kaay Holdings. An information request from the ASIC website, which anyone can do, shows the following:

Registered address: GUNGOR & PARTNERS PTY LTD, Suite 1, 219 Canning Highway, SOUTH PERTH WA 6151
Start date: 21/08/2020

Principal Place Of Business address:
Level 14, 333 Collins Street, MELBOURNE VIC 3000
Start date: 01/01/2019

Director
Name: RYAN JOHN MANNING
Address: 85 Scott Street, HELENA VALLEY WA 6056
Appointment date: 22/06/2020

Secretary
Name: RYAN JOHN MANNING
Address: 85 Scott Street, HELENA VALLEY WA 6056
Appointment date: 22/06/2020

It’s interesting that the Scott Street address appears in search engines linked to Chaps Group Pty Ltd who are also listed on the ASIC extract as a shareholder of Registry Australia Pty Ltd. Interesting also is that Billboard Pty Ltd, another major shareholder, is listed at the same Collins Street services office address.

The Registry Australia website prominently displays their TrustPilot rating and shows only positive reviews. If you visit the TrustPilot website you will see they also have a slew of extremely bad reviews that they don’t show on their own website.

Most Recent Letter received:
This letter like the last includes an opt-out instruction but it doesn’t appear it’s being obeying as we opt-ed out last time yet still received another letter.

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