Weinstein Williams raided by Scambusters team

RAIDS have been carried out on a Liverpool company believed to have been falsely selling advertising space.

Weinstein Williams was raided by the Scambusters team – established by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills – following numerous complaints from people across the country.

The Dale Street company – which produces booklets, planners and other documents – is reported to have sold advertising space while failing to publish the adverts.

It is also alleged to have sold advertising for publications that never existed.

It is the first time that the Scambusters team, which has an office in Liverpool, has taken action of this kind in the North West.

The team is made up of specialist Trading Standards officers and represents 22 local authorities across the North West.

Many complaints against Weinstein Williams also focused around the way businesses had been pressured into paying for adverts they had never agreed to.

A private property in Tarbock Green, believed to belong to the owner of the company, was also raided and documents and computers were seized and will now be analysed

If the team find the complaints are justified, Weinstein Williams could face civil action where there is the possibility they will be ordered to stop falsely selling advertising. 

Or the company could be prosecuted and face charges relating to the Fraud Act.

Liverpool City Council’s executive member for the environment, Councillor Berni Turner, said:  “Although Weinstein Williams is based in Liverpool, it operated across the country and tended to contact potential advertisers outside of the city – making it impossible for a single trading standards team to take any action against them.

“Scambusters was set up to tackle rogue traders who operate across local authority borders. 

“The Trading Standards North West team were ideally placed to collate the evidence that led to this raid, and will now be working to see if formal legal action should be brought.”

Scambusters also worked in partnership with the Merseyside Police Economic Crime Team.

Chair of Trading Standards North West, Paul Noone, said: “The North West seems to have a lot of companies trying to sell advertising in publications that are claimed to have links with the emergency services or charities.

“Many of these companies are reputable, however some will use underhand tactics to convince small businesses to advertise in publications that only have small circulations or are never even printed.

“The Scambusters team have been looking into a number of companies of this type and this raid is the first of a number that are planned where it is alleged that the publisher is misleading prospective advertisers.”