The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has issued a public warning notice about the behaviour of a company that claims to find government funding for small businesses.
Australian Business Funding Centre Pty Ltd is the operator of website www.australiangovernmentgrants.org, which spruiks a database that lists all available public grants and subsidies available to small business owners.
The ACCC's notice alleges that ABFC, also known as Australian Business Financing Centre, has taken fees of $497 to $701 from small businesses for access to the database, only for those customers to find that they were not eligible for any grants.
"We are very concerned that small businesses are paying ABFC for a service that does not provide the information and assistance they have paid for," said ACCC acting chair Dr Michael Schaper.
The 'success stories' section of the website shows scores of real Australian companies that were supposedly happy with the funding they unearthed, but the testimonials were found to be fabricated when the ACCC tried to verify their authenticity.
"When those businesses were contacted by the ACCC, they said the stories were used without their permission and that they had not obtained any government funding via ABFC," stated the consumer watchdog.
CRN contacted ABFC for comment regarding the ACCC's action, but only received an automated email.
Schaper said that similar schemes had also alarmed authorities in New Zealand and Canada. ABFC has a Canberra address but the sole director is based overseas, according to the ACCC.
“Small businesses should take care when assessing offers to assist them in obtaining government grants. The bottom line is that information relating to government grants is generally available free of charge from a variety of state and federal resources online,” Schaper said.
Legitimate government grant information can be accessed at www.business.gov.au and other websites ending with .gov.au.
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