Here is some info on the company...they are in Ireland...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-1507-1552383-1507,00.html

April 03, 2005

Clampdown on phone ‘prizes’
Jan Battles

THE organisers of a mail promotion scheme, who convinced people to spend a fortune on premium phone calls in an attempt to claim bogus cheques, have been ordered to shut it down.

The phone regulator invoked emergency procedures on Friday to force the company to close its service after dozens of complaints from consumers.

Targets of the scheme had been sent letters from a company called Value Group, which said they had been selected to receive four awards attached as “cheques” with values of up to €75,000. In order to claim the prizes, they had to call four premium phone lines, racking up bills of up to €76.

If PromoCom, the Ballsbridge-based company that runs the Value Group promotion, refuses to remove it the industry watchdog, Regtel, can ask network operators to bar access to the numbers.

“I’ve asked that this service be removed forthwith,” said Pat Breen, the regulator. He said the emergency procedure is invoked “if we think it’s of a serious nature. Based on the complaints that we are receiving we would treat this as very serious. It’s not something we would use lightly”.

Under the code of practice, calls to competition services must not cost more than €8 per call. However, each of the calls to the four claim lines in this case cost more than €18.

Consumers who were sent a letter were “guaranteed” to receive an award worth at least €1,000 and as much as €75,000, according to the literature.

Attached were four “cheques” for amounts ranging from €20,000 to €75,000. Each, containing an eight-digit code, had a different 1580 premium line number to call in order to claim the awards. A total of 33 six-digit “cheque” numbers were read out with their prize, ensuring the call lasted eight minutes at €2.40 a minute. None of the four numbers was read out.

PromoCom is run by Iain McConnon, who yesterday was not at home in Glenageary, Co Dublin.