ALBANY - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Monday announced a settlement agreement with a national online directory service for defrauding thousands of small businesses and not-for-profits across New York State and the nation.

Under the terms of the court-ordered settlement, the company will pay a $150,000 penalty and up to $3 million in restitution to defrauded customers. 

The agreement settles a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s Office in February charging Bright Pages L.L.C. and its principals with mailing false and misleading solicitations to small businesses, individual practitioners and charitable groups. The mailings, which included the familiar “walking fingers” logo, appeared to be from the local Yellow Pages phone directory seeking to verify existing advertising accounts.  Instead, they were order forms to buy a listing on Bright Pages’ online directory. 

Tens of thousands of companies and customers around the country and New York State were deceived into ordering services they did not want or intend to purchase at rates of $77 per month or $231 every quarter.

Many were unaware of the deception and others who discovered the fraud encountered problems when they attempted to cancel and get refunds.

Under the terms of the settlement, Bright Pages will refund all customers it deceived during the entire period of time the company has conducted business, from November 1, 2006 - April 30, 2008. The company has also agreed that all future solicitations will clearly disclose the services it is selling and will honor all future requests for refunds and/or cancellations.