Premium Business Pages: 'past-due' invoices for services nobody ordered
In June 2018 the FTC sued nine Canadian and U.S. defendants operating as Premium Business Pages, Ameteck Group, The Local Business Pages and Data Net Technologies. It alleged they phoned small businesses claiming past-due invoices for directory listings, SEO or web services never ordered. On December 18, 2018 the court entered a judgment of more than $4.6 million and a permanent ban.
- Year
- 2018
- Where
- Canada, United States
- Outcome
- Sanctioned
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Business directory listing scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-21
The facts, as recorded
- The FTC filed FTC v. 9140-9201 Québec Inc. et al., Civil Action 1:18-cv-04115, in the Northern District of Illinois; a restraining order with an asset freeze issued June 18, 2018.
- The nine defendants, two individuals and seven corporations, operated under the names Premium Business Pages, Ameteck Group, The Local Business Pages and Data Net Technologies.
- The FTC alleged the enterprise had made unsolicited calls since at least 2013 to induce payment for unordered directory listings, SEO, or web design and hosting.
- Callers allegedly said the business owed a past-due invoice and threatened that accounts would be sent to 'collections' or 'red flagged'.
- Some victims were allegedly called repeatedly, sometimes by what appeared to be different companies, about additional invoices.
- The December 18, 2018 judgment required the defendants to pay more than $4.6 million and permanently barred marketing of directory listings, SEO or web services.
- The case was announced as part of Operation Main Street.
Why this case matters
It is the clearest recent example of the “past-due invoice” opening: no directory listing is offered at all, the caller simply asserts that the business already owes money. That flips the burden onto the recipient to prove a negative, and it is exactly the framing the FTC’s guidance warns about.
The money side
The court’s judgment exceeded $4.6 million. The FTC’s release describes the order and prohibits collection on outstanding accounts, but the sources read for this page do not say how much was actually collected or returned to victims.
The caveat
The description of the calls is the FTC’s allegation. The FTC’s case page says the judgment was a default judgment, entered when the defendants did not respond to the complaint, so the facts were not contested in a trial. No individual is stated to have faced criminal charges in the sources read, and this page does not suggest otherwise.
Sources
- FTC Obtains Court Order Barring U.S. and Canadian Scammers from Marketing, Selling Internet-related Services and Misrepresenting Their Relationship with Consumers. Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-09-21. Supports: The court, the December 18, 2018 judgment of more than $4.6 million, the trade names, the threats, repeated calls and permanent ban.
- FTC v. 9140-9201 Québec Inc. (Premium Business Pages Inc.). Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-09-21. Supports: The docket number, the June 18, 2018 restraining order and the default judgment.