Ciao. Abbiamo ricevuto questa lettera da Forderung.com GmbH, ma quando controllato non abbiamo mai ricevuto alcuna e -mail dalla “vittima”. Allo stesso tempo, durante una rapida ricerca ho letto solo recensioni negative su questa azienda e che sono possibili truffatori, ma mi chiedevo se qualcuno ha ricevuto qualcosa da loro e può confermarmi che è davvero una truffa? In fondo alla pagina dice che sono un partner ufficiale di Schufa, ma nell’elenco dei partner di Schufa, questo Forderung non appare. Stanno chiedendo € 445 danni per la “vittima”.
Grazie in anticipo!
https://i.redd.it/qpx8vwz823qf1.jpeg
di MissTuan
36 commenti
probably (90+%) a scam. Everyone starting with “dear Sir or madam”, doesnt know who you are. How should they know of any money you owe to anyone? a German company that never conversed with you would also not write to you in english. Hell, even if they specifically knew its all youre speaking they most likely wouldnt do that.
And im not sure what SCHUFA official partner should even mean
As long as it is not in a yellow envelope, I would consider it a scam.
I’ve never received an official, serious letter without my name and on top with “Date format – DD.MM.YYYY”.
I think the domain “Forderung.com” sounds more than fishy. But I fear that doesn’t mean it has to be fake. I guess it is one of those law firms that send this letter to hundreds of people.
Why do they right in English to you if it’s a legally registered german company. On all legal matters only communication in german is valid. As it is the only Amtssprache existing in Germany
You’re in Germany. Companies cannot send official letters to you in English only.
The main question is: Is the client known to you? Did you handle any personal information regarding the client (name, address, email, etc.)
If you know the client and handled that information, it’s not a scam.
But just because it’s not a scam doesn’t make this a valid claim. But that question cannot be answered without knowledge of your business with the client.
It seems weird to say the least. Why would an Inkassounternehmen, who are usually responsible for collecting unpaid bills, pursue a GDPR violation?
I suggest you ask in the legal advice sub r/legaladvicegerman for Germany. And maybe contact a lawyer on your own, even if it is a scam, it might be a legal one until you do something against it.
Definitely don’t just send them the money because you are scared.
They actually offer you a portal to check out the claims they are making: https://schuldnerportal.forderung.com/login
7 days is crazy fast, so id say scam
its most likely a scam. First of all, its in english. They also do not have your name, and its just a badly used template. Go to your local police and report it. Most have a cyber department.
One more fishy thing: Forderung.com seems to be an Inkasso (that’s what is written on the website), but an Inkasso is not a law firm.
[removed]
Scam !
!!!!!! SCAM !!!!!!!
Yeah, it’s a scam.
Still you should ask yourself where they’ve got your data from.
Probably this site? Same guy responsible for above is for datenschutz-com.
If you know some good lawyers and have money to spend (or insurance), you should sue the guy.
What you want is a “negative Feststellungsklage”, if the claim in your sheet is not valid.
Also for an incomplete imprint under datenschutz-com.
200% Scam
In Germany German is the only undeniable language for legal matters by law. So you can discard it without worry or even think of suing them for breaching DSGVO and your personal rights.
Yes it’s definitely scam this one
Inkasso is like the bottom of all professions, they will use anything to trick you into paying. Check if you have legal insurance and lawyer up.
Edit:
Even tho it sucks, you should take down this photo asap. Maybe reupload with personal data of the client and Case ID censored.
Have they even detailed which violation they exactly accuse you of?
Hi. I’m a lawyer who works in data privacy in a company but I don’t advise people on their individual cases, I just advise a company about its obligations.
What I’m going to tell you is not legal advice. Im not qualified to give it and I don’t know your particulars. Don’t rely on this advice.
On the face of it:
Firstly; it doesn’t have your address or name on it. It’s not written in German. It doesn’t appear to have any details of what is alleged against you. It’s not a proper legal letter of demand in my opinion.
Secondly; any data protection issues need to be reported to the data protection authority of the Bundesland. You can look up the DPA for where ever you are and get in touch with them.
I’m not even sure that one can sue for damages for unlawful use of personal data. I’m quite sure the only ramifications are through fines from the DPA
Id get in touch with the DPA and/or Look up the Rechtsanwalt Kammer for your area and find a data protection lawyer, email them the letter and see if they tell you its bs
I sometimes do wonder why people have to ask if this is a scam. It is a very poor scam, just throw it in the bin
Right to the trash bin 🗑️.
Lol getting a letter IN ENGLISH from a German authority, that’s very likely.
Also, love the “date format”, good grief.
There is NOTHING about this letter that would make me think this is legitimate.
Also, Client Yulia Roth, that you? Maybe delete that whole thing – and throw that letter away, too.
Take that seriously. It’s a big company sending more or less automated DSGVO violation punishments out. In your case it sounds like you have a contact form that doesn’t do SSL. Get a lawyer or pay.
[removed]
It’s a scam.
Other than all the other obvious things for a scam – unpersonal address, English, the “Date format” thing – you’re also a private person. The GDPR doesn’t even apply to you.
Could you share the whole letter (blacking out your details, and the Client probably too)?
But this is most certainly a scam if this is the first letter you’re getting. No proper company sends you a legal letter in English, especially not if they don’t know you (And thus rightly assume that you’re capable of speaking German, or translating it yourself). Even if they knew, their english letter will have a disclaimer that only the German version is legally binding (or some wording thereof).
The domain Forderung.com exists since 2002, so that in itself could even be legit. Their website lambasts how they accept jobs through a REST API – How modern of them. The company does exist, the address is correct according to Google Maps. The current incarnation seems to be more recent though, 2021-ish, according to the wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20210601000000*/https://forderung.com/ Snapshots in the years before only serve a 404 page.
Checking company records, the company has been founded in 2020: https://www.northdata.de/FORDERUNG%C2%B7COM%20GmbH,%20Hamburg/HRB%20165330
Without further details, this sounds really fishy. Have you ever heard of the Client?
Sadly, as this seems to be a ‘legit’ company on paper, I can’t do the usual and send a complaint to the hoster and registrar.
Scam don’t pay it
Hello – I work in management for a listed German company and just recently we had to engage our legal department to pursue payment from a supplier so I took the chance to talk with a colleague who shortly pointed out the following …
– legal matters are written in German – here is in English.
– there should be at least a mention of the date or title of your latest communication if that ever really happened
– they wrote your name and then went with „dear sir or madam“.
– in legal matters the amounts for settlement and reasons for settlements are mentioned, often early in the mail, together with the reasons for the settlement request
– they mention you would have to engage a law firm or lawyer in case you don’t settle – which is nothing a lawyer would write (it is none of their business how much extra cost you would incur). This specific phrase is made to sound like a threat. No corporate lawyer in Germany would write that.
I would go with 99% scam.
company exists and they send out this kind of stuff in waves. i would report them to zoll or tax office and consult a lawyer
Why would an Inkasso (debt collector) company that only threatens to involve a law firm write the exact letter with legal reasoning that a law firm would send you? Usually it’s the other way around and the attorney will write you first and maybe give the debt to Inkasso if they somehow think, they can’t collect it themselves. The thing is most of the time the lawyer will go to court so the debt collection will be handled by the state itself. They’d first have to sue you officially at which point you’d definitely get an official letter from a court.
Do you live in Germany? If yes, I believe this not valid. The only official language in Germany for legal proceedings is German. Also a real legal claim would explicitly name the plaintiff and the defendant. This does not.
Edit: No legal advice just my 2 cents
Scam
Define scam. They are trying to get money out of you, but definitely based on dubious grounds and methods. I think even if they have in theory a real case, it’s rather unlikely that they are going to pursue legal action if you ignore them. It’s supposedly about a GDPR violation, which can be almost anything but is perhaps related to a website or website-related business you are running.
What I would do is – considering you are saying you haven’t received any other communication about this and are not aware of the case – ask them and explicitely tell them that you haven’t received any prior mail and you don’t know what this is about. Use their e-mail address because you don’t want to incur any expenses on your side. If you don’t get an answer, you might be safe to ignore this because they are obviously just trying to find people who will be shocked by this type of letter and pay. If they get back to you, you might at least want to assess the case as there will probably be a real person that this company is acting on behalf of.
The site looks very scammy too. They gave themselve a certificate (a certificate from forderung.com to forderung.com) and the reviews are very strange (a single person gave 3,3 of 5 stars and so on).