Who's Who Of Who's Who Scams

    I received a letter in the mail today from Cambridge Who's Who.  The letter stated that I had been "appointed as a biographical candidate to represent Duncannon, PA in the 2009/2010 online Cambridge Who's Who Registry among Executives and Professionals."  The letter goes on to say that I have been chosen based on my current position and that inclusion in the registry is free.   In order to complete my listing, It stated I could fill out a form online or send in an application that was provided with the letter.  Needless to say, I was very skeptical from the start.

Cambridge Letter

Cambridge Application

    A quick Google for "Cambridge Who's Who" returned 79,100,000 results.  Third from the top was a great blog entry from Writer Beware Blogs! entitled "Beware Who's Who Schemes".  This post list several Who's Who scams including:

• United Who's Who
• International Who's Who Historical Society
• American Who's Who Association
• Premier Who's Who
• Emerald Who's Who
• Madison Who's Who
• Global Register's Who's Who

And of course, Cambridge Who's Who.

    While that was enough for me, I decided to do a little bit more research.  The next place I went was Ripoff Report.  A search here returned 53 results.  And next was a search on the Better Business Bureau, which showed 464 complaints in the last 36 months.

    This is just a reminder to always be skeptical.