In these hard economic times, there’s no shortage of scams out there with the latest to target our area an apparent bogus attempt to solicit advertising money for the Branch County Visitor’s Bureau Tourism Guide. Dee Yee with the Tourism Bureau says someone is fraudulently representing themselves to be working with the Visitor’s Bureau on another guide. The company goes by several names, including Universal Adcom, which is similar to the actual company, Universal Advertising Associates, Inc., the firm the Tourism Bureau has successfully worked with for many years. Yee says the scam company trying to infiltrate the Branch County market seems to be located in

Texas and has many addresses and when an attempt is made to contact them, the phone number comes up blocked. The Branch County Tourism Bureau is advising businesses in the area not to buy an ads if contacted by this firm, which also goes by the names

Premier Impressions, Multi Marketing Corp., Premier Map, and Hometown Productions.