I have been harassed by this organisation. threatening legal action for not paying,

I have a friend who used to work for the company that makes these calls and it isn't a scam, it's a legitimate book called Street Smart which is given to year 11 kids all over Australia (I know this because I got one 5 years ago in year 11), and they're not selling advertisement spots but rather collecting sponsorship and displaying it with your business name.

The email they ask you to reply with isn't a phishing email, it's an invoice to the agreed amount, so the purpose of this is so they have the written agreement from the sponsor, the email of course is sent after an amount is agreed on and the sponsor has agreed to the terms, it's because your spot in the book as a sponsor can't be locked in until it's in writing with both parties

If you do get this call don't be afraid that it's a scam, they're not going to steal your info or identity or anything for that matter, just ask for paid sponsorship in this book

called claiming to be from federal police

This number appears to belong to someone at a business called Countrywide Austral http://www.cwaustral.com.au/advertisers/advertising-rates/qld-streetsmart-handbook/

They appear to be lifting business phone numbers from geographic location searches on Facebook (finding businesses by suburb).

I had quite a lengthy discussion with said caller and while they do represent a publication made in association with the Police Welfare Foundation, it appears to be simple cold-calling to get you to accept a TINY $500+ GST ad placement in the QLD distribution of the Street Smart handbook which is given to grade 11 and 12 high school leavers.

Good cause as it may be, calls from this number are simply cold call advertising sales using important sounding words to get your attention http://www.auspol.org/ really is a charity so the call initially does come off as sounding more important that it really is.

how did you resolve this I am in the same boat!!! Do I just ignore?

They called me and continue to bug me (for over 12 months) to advertise my accommodation in their handbook. They went ahead and created an advertisment without the go ahead or any instruction whatsoever. Now they're chaing me for the money via a collection agency. Good luck to them!!!!!

Yeah, Great cause! Been supporting for years.

Total scam. Claim to advertise in a magazine. The type of magazine changes each time they call. They never give you a legitimate number that you can call them back on. Sometimes the name of the magazine really does exist, sometimes it doesnt. Fact is the advertisement they mock up for you never actually goes to print. It never gets distributed. They simply want you to pay the $500 or so and send you a crap pdf of an advertisement. The next stage of this scam is that they will call someone in your organisation months later and claim you advertised in another magazine as well and request payment. Note that the reviews below stating things like "I've been supporting them for years" are fake - why would someone take the time to post on a scam-watch website saying that the organisation is good!

Really ?? CWA staff are trained to state , correctly , that they are calling ON BEHALF OF the police / neighbourhood watch. And money DOES go to the right places.

I signed up to do the advert.....STUPID ME......They sent me the ad that I didnt ok at all, it looked total sh*t, I said I will not pay for something so crap.....they wont respond to my emails at all......such a scam!!!

rang claiming he was a police officer assigned to fundraise for the NT emergency response journal - my accountant has advised me it is fake. i refused payment they now harras me via phone and email using different numbers another number is 0402 958 808

Trying to sell advertising in a publication aimed at reducing drug use in children.
No money will be going to the children, the publisher CountryWide Austral keeps this money.

Phoned in claiming to be collecting support funds for Australian Fire Fighters

Claimed to be a marketing caller from federal police.

all a scam, don't bother paying them anything. Any positive comments on here are the scammers themselves trying to counteract all the people saying that they are scammers. I repeat, do not give them a cent, this person preys on people's good nature and tries callingme every year from a different "business".

I had the same some ladie rang trying to make me pay 700 over phone I told her send bank account details to me in a email and I would finish looking stuff up to make sure not a scam and now 3days later still no email but when on phone it had to be fixed straight away

Caller: Street smart

Has anyone had success in getting this street smart mob to stop harassment? They have now got a collection agency chasing for money for an add that I said no too. I called and spoke to accounts and they tried to tell me that they were told I was calling to pay the bill, so tried to trick me again! I told her to stop calling that this is a scam and she got angry and told me that I'm verbally assaulting her and hung up?????

Yeah reading this has made up my mine not getting my cash bye

They are from the http://www.streetsmarthandbook.com.au/ all good

Caller: Countrywide Austral

I used to work there.
It isn't a scam and it's a legit business but honestly its all just crap. When I was in high school they gave us the booklets and literally NO one reads them.
Everyone working there is on commission only so forgive them if they seem a bit intense. You're literally paying them by saying yes.
They trick you into thinking you're literally saving kids from the streets but speaking as a kid myself that book does jack sh*t to help. All you're doing by saying yes is giving some poor sucker $100 to live until someone else says yet to their call.
My advice if you want to help, go help an actual kid that's struggling rather than paying $500 for a piece of paper and a business card size ad in their book that no one reads.