Has anyone met this before? Here's what happened to me yesterday, and my theory about what's going on.

I was 'phoned by a very annoyed man, saying that "my organisation" had cold-called him while he was in a meeting. I told him I don't cold call, and as the 'organisation' is just me I'd know if I'd 'phoned anyone.

He said the caller gave the name of my business (actually they gave Purposeful Paths, which was the name before we transformed to NLP Catalysts) and was 'phoning from a call centre - there were noises of 'phones ringing and people talking in the background. Again, I assured him I don't use any kind of agency to call on my behalf.

By the way, he assumed PP was a large organisation because we're top of the list on Google - well yes, but only if you put the URL or exact business name directly into Google. We're all number one and 'large' on that basis!

When he'd calmed down, and accepted this call was nothing to do with me, he promised to let me know if anyone calls him again and to get as much information about them as he can.

I was bemused and couldn't work out what the angle might be. Then I remembered a cold call I'd taken a couple of weeks ago.

I was asked by the caller if I was looking for clients. "Of course."

"Well we have many clients all lined up and anxious to use your services - all you have to do is register with us." I didn't bother to find out how large the sum of money was they were looking for, or get much information about them. I ended the call and thought nothing more of it - after all, if that many people were anxious to be my clients, I'd be getting a large volume of calls direct, wouldn't I?

So I guess there's some unscrupulous agency (or several) out there trawling the web for smallish websites, posing as the business/practice concerned, and getting potential client details. Anyone who does pay the fee - guessing again - gets sent a list of names and 'phone numbers (at best).

So, I'm expecting another call with a similar 'we have clients' for you proposition soon. When it comes, I'll get their details and consider how to get them put out of business - permanently. This harms the reputation of anyone affected, and they're just riding on the back of those of us working hard to establish and grow our business in a legitimate way.

Has anyone else been affected by this scam, or think you have? I'd be interested to hear your experience and what you did about it.

Is my theory correct, or does anyone have another angle on this? Again, all thoughts welcome.