Do to the overwhelming response from my blog post http://listofscams.blogspot.com/2009/07/door-to-door-magazine-sales-is.html , I have decided to reprise the tips list in hopes of reaching out and helping those who may have been taken in by this con. This post is only going to deal with the scam part of door to door magazine sales. If you want to know more about the other illegal activity this industry harbors, please read my first blog post (the link is above). What is happening not only affects the people answering the door to this con, it also affects the unfortunate field agents who try to stay honest in the dangerous environment they are placed in.
Summary: Door to door magazine sales have proven time and time again to be a huge scam on everyone from the outdoor sales rep to the unsuspecting customer. The are several different ways this scam works. Every year reports about fraudulent door to door sales rise. The companies that perpetrate this scam aren't only trying to scam consumers, they scam their field associates as well. These companies are not concerned about their field associates safety or, for that matter, the safety of anyone. The only thing these companies care about is how much money can they get out of everyone. Often times these companies will drop the field associates off in a high crime area and expect them to go door to door selling, putting them at risk.
These door to door magazine sales companies hire a variety of people. Young teens looking to work for the summer, young adults wanting to travel, older adults looking to start a new life, criminals on the run, convicted criminals looking to not get caught again. These companies put everyone together on a sales team, whisk them away to another state, place them in a hotel with 2 or more people in a room, then drop them off in an unknown neighborhood where they attempt to sell magazines.
The door to door magazine companies ply young teens and young adults with the easy money lines. "Make great cash and we pay you for it!" "Travel the country on our dime and make money doing it!" "Sell magazines for us and win a trip or $5,000 dollars." Sound familiar? To a teen easy money for the summer, to a young adult easy money and sales experience, to a criminal easy access to a variety of unsuspecting victims who kindly answer their door to them.
Ways The Scam Works:
The Door to Door Magazine Salesperson:
Since the field agents are left on their own to roam, it is very easy for them to incorporate their own theft - mainly the theft of funds from anyone who signs up for their scam and then gives cash. Don't think giving a check will save you either: your routing number and bank account number are on the check. All the unsupervised field agent needs to do is write down your routing number and account number down on a separate piece of paper along with any other information on the check like your name, address, phone number, and sadly maybe even your drivers license number. Now they have your checking information and can transfer money out of your account. Same thing with giving a credit card number. All they need to do is write down somewhere else and use it later.
The field agents are encouraged to lie to the potential customer about if they get commission, they are told to say they are in a contest they are trying to win a educational vacation abroad, trying to win a scholarship, trying to win points, or selling magazines for charity. They are also told not to give the companies full name only give the initials or give the name of another known magazine door to door sales company. Of course not giving the companies full name or correct name makes it even harder to try and get that cancellation through. So, their sales pitch is based on a lie which they are trained by the magazine sales company to say which only leads to the obvious, everything about the magazine sale is a lie too.
The best time for a field agent to go out looking for potential victims: The holidays. I'm not talking about Christmas, I am talking about any holiday. People let their guards down, and are friendlier and more loose with their money and judgment. Also, banks are closed so if someone gives a check it gives the scammers extra time to hold on to the check - oh, and the cancellation period doesn't take holidays into consideration. The holiday is also an excuse for not being able to get a hold of anyone to cancel because the office is closed.
The Magazine Sales Company:
The magazine sales company themselves do things like give a very limited amount of time to cancel the subscription, may not put their contact information on the receipt, and if you happen to get their contact information you now go round for round with an unchecked voice mail box or answering machine. Chances of getting hold of a human to cancel your subscription slim to none without legal action. Also, the subscription prices are way over market value.
If you happen to find a website run by a door to door magazine sales company, chances are they have a disclaimer that they will not honor anything their sales agent told you, which means if the sales agent said you could change the subscription at a later time or that they would not cash your check until the subscription starts, the company will not abide by that contract.
The length of time it takes the subscription to start can be up to 3 months after they have taken your money. Also, if you opted to pay in installments, well, guess what? You're being charged those installment payments and you haven't received one magazine yet. This is of course assuming you will actually receive the subscription that you paid for. The chance of getting your subscription is spotty at best.
These companies don't only scam people who give them money. They also scam their field agents by charging them for food and the cramped hotel room they throw them in. If the field agents sales doesn't hold up to expectation the group leader can decide to ditch them any where in the country with no money. This practice is widely accepted in this industry because the magazine sales companies don't want to keep an under performing sales person around and they don't want to pay for their transportation home either.
Most cities and towns have a law stating if someone is doing door to door sales they have to stop by the city or town hall and pay for a sales permit. These companies tell their sales people not to get these permits because it alerts the police that they are in the area. Also, a good amount of their field agents could be someone with an arrest warrant and getting the permit would require them to show ID.
Some tips to avoid such door to door scams:
1. The best way to not get caught by this scam: don't answer the door. If you aren't expecting anyone, ask who it is through the closed door. If it's a door to door sales person, tell them to leave.
2. Putting a "No Solicitors" sign is one way to go but it doesn't stop them. At least if they do knock on your door, you have every right to tell them in a not-so-nice tone to get off your property and you will call the cops to have them arrested for trespassing.
3. If you answer the door, don't open it wide and don't invite them in. Even if they say "Can I use your phone to contact my sales manager", "Can I get a glass of water", "Can I use your bathroom" or "It's really hot out here can we go inside and talk where it's cool?" Once inside, this stranger can steal from you, hurt you, or worse.
4. If you do open the door and they won't leave or they try to stick their foot in the door, scream. Yell at them, yell "Fire!", or anything that will get attention.
5. If you live in an apartment complex with a security door remember don't buzz in someone you don't know use the intercom find out who it is. Door to door sales people are known for buzzing everyone in the building to see if anyone will let them in without checking to see who it is.
6. If you see a neighbor being harassed by a door to door sales person call the cops. If you feel comfortable enough walk up to your neighbor and ask what is going on.
7. If you happen to talk to a door to door sales person and don't feel comfortable, call the cops. Chances are they don't have a solicitors' permit and are breaking the the law by just knocking on your door. Also, notify your neighbors and don't be afraid to watch where the door to door sales person goes. If you notice they are going to houses that don't appear to have anyone home, call the cops - they could be trying to break in. In addition be more alert; it is common for a neighborhood to experience a rash of home burglaries, car break-ins, or garage break-ins days after a team of traveling sales people have visited the neighborhood, especially if they didn't get the sales they were expecting.
8. Don't buy anything! The whole point of door to door sales is to pressure someone into buying something without being able to make an informed decision. Even if the sales person tells you their deal is only good through them, don't buy anything.
9. If you do call the police, try to give a good description like identifying marks, tattoos, scars, hair color, height, weight, type of clothes the door to door scammer was wearing, if they had an accent, if they were male or female, if there was more than one person.
Tips for people who gave their hard earned money to these con artist:
1. If you gave them cash, well, you can call the cops but since there isn't a way to trace cash not much can be done. Be glad you didn't give them a check or your credit card number. They can't do any more damage to you.
2. If you gave a check, cancel the check and then try to call to cancel the subscription. I know calling will be fruitless but at least make the attempt and keep a record of it. It would be best to close your checking account because the company and sales person now has your routing number and account number. It can be used to transfer money out of your account even if you cancel the check.
3. If you gave a credit card number, call your credit card company to tell them what happened and give them whatever information you have. Also, cancel the card. You may need to monitor the charges that appear on your account for a while.
4. After you've canceled the check or credit card transaction and you happen to have the company's address, send a cancellation letter with a copy of your receipt to the company. Send it certified mail express - make sure someone needs to sign for the letter. Even if it comes back as unsigned for it is proof you attempted to cancel within the cancellation period.
5. Go to the Better Business Bureau's website and lodge a complaint against the company. www.bbb.org
6. Notify the Federal Trade Commission you can start a complaint through their website.www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261
7. Contact your state attorney's office and if possible the state attorney's office where the magazine sales company is based.
8. Listen to the advice given to you by your bank, local police station, credit card company, State Attorney's office and/or Federal Trade Commission.
9. If you receive communication from the magazine sales company demanding payment after you've canceled, send them a cease and desist letter along with copies of your cancellation letter and the copies of the certified mail receipt showing if had been signed or sent back. Don't send them originals - always send them copies. If they continue to harass you, threaten legal action against them and follow up with having a lawyer send another cease and desist letter. It may cost you some money but in the end they will get the hint and leave you alone. If they try to mess with your credit you can sue them.
Please take the time to visit these other sites for tips and more information:
http://www.travelingsalescrews.info/door%20to%20door%20sales%20profiles.html
http://edumacation.com/PacificCoastClearingServices
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091118/articles/911181005
List of key words:
Pacific Coast Clearing Services Inc
aka Classic Sales aka Creator Sales aka Elite Sales aka Explorer Sales Inc aka Family Reading Program aka Imperial Sales aka Infinite Enterprises Inc aka Island Sales aka Jaguar Sales aka K T S Inc aka Liberator Sales Inc aka Magazine Rewards aka North American Clearing Corporation aka North American Subscription Services aka Northwest Clearing Corporation aka NCS aka Pacific Northwest Clearing Corporation aka Pacific NW Clearing Corp aka Pacific Sales aka Platinum Sales aka Prince Sales Inc aka Road Runner Sales aka Roadrunner Sales aka Signature Sales Inc aka South Pacific Sales aka Starfleet Subscription Services Inc aka Storm Enterprises aka Success Express Sales Inc aka Superior Sales aka Super Star Sales Inc aka Superstar Sales Inc aka Superstars Sales Inc aka Tnt Sales aka Tornado Sales aka Travel USA aka Universal Sales aka Unlimited Sales aka Untouchable Sales
AHP – Always Helping People Alliance Service Company AllStar Promotions American Cash Awards American Circulation American Circulation Enterprises, Inc. American Circulation Services American Community Services, Inc. American Global Services Aristocrat Sales ATM Sales Atlantic Circulation, Inc Atlantic Periodical Sales Inc
Beyond Our Dreams Chapel Sales Circulation 1 Circulation I, Inc Circulation II Inc
Circulation II LLC Circulation 2 Inc Classic Sales Coast to Coast Circulations, Inc
Colvin Sales Condella Sales Divine World-Wide Ministries Double Douce Subscription Inc DP Sales Dynasty Sale Dynasty Technologies, Inc Editorials International, Inc
Elite Circulation Inc Elite Sales Empire Sales, Inc Entrepreneurs Across America, Inc
Explorer Sales Inc Extreme Marketing Face to Face Technologies, Inc Family Reading Program Farmers Publications Inc Fidelity Readers Service, Inc First Class Sales FLLRD FNT Force Foster Sales Free X Press Freedom Sales Inc Fresh Start Opportunities Fun Sales, Inc Furman Future Gemini Sales Gemini Subscriptions Global American Solutions Go For More Inc GoDoers Enterprise, Inc Gold Coast Circulation, Inc Gold Key Company Greater Image, Inc Great Lakes Circulation, Inc Heartline Foundation, Inc Hoosier Magazines Subscription Service Ice Publications Imperial Sales Infinite Enterprises Inc Infinity Sales Integrity Sales Intercontinental Subscription Service, Inc Intergity Program International Clearance Exchange Interstate Subscription Service IP Marketing Island Sales Jaguar Sales Jamison Sales K & S Enterprises K T S Inc Lamb Sales Inc Liberator Sales Inc Love Technologies, Inc Lrumar Publacations LLC
M.O.S.E.S. Inc. Magazine Fulfillment Corporation Magazine Fulfillment Services Magazine Rewards Magazines, Inc Mag Fun LLC Mags R Us Marketing Associated Group Inc.McLemore Sales Midwest Clearing Inc Momentum Sales Money Train Express Mountain Subscriptions MSI MTX My Travel Job National Circulation Services LLC Nation Wide Travelling National Community Clearing National Community Clearing, Inc National Magazine Exchange National Publishers Exchange NCS New Beginning Association, Inc New Direction New Edition New Generation New Generation Reader Service New Image Sales, Inc New River Subscription Service New Vision No Limit Sales North American Clearing Corporation North American Subscription Services Northwest Clearing Corporation NPE – National Publishers Exchange NRSS Offbeat Services Oh New Generations Old World Elegance Omega Sales Inc. Omni-Droppers Omni-Horizons Inc Otis Sales Overachievers Overachievers Enterprises
P.C.C. - Publishers Consulting Corporation Pacific Coast Clearing Service Pacific Coast Clearing Services Inc Pacific Northwest Clearing Corporation Pacific NW Clearing Corp Pacific Sales Palmetto Marketing Paragon Dynasty Paragon Management Paragon Marketing Group Paragon Sales Paramount Sales Payne Sales PCCS Performance Clearing Services, Inc Phoenix Imagery, Inc Pitts Sales Platinum Plus Platinum Sales PMA Sales PMA, Inc. Points Across America Powerhouse Sales Precision Sales Prestige Sales Prestige Sales, LLC Prince Sales Inc Proformance Clearing Services, Inc Prolific Marketing, LLC Pubco Printing Public Marketing Association Publishers Certified Service Publishers Consulting Corporation Publishers Entry Service Pure Platinum Raiders Rainbow Sales, Inc Red Hot Sales Regulator Sales RLA, INC. Roadrunner Sales Robinson Sales Rollout Promotions, Inc Ron Szitas Sales Roussaw Enterprise SB Magazines Inc Schaefer Sales Schaefer Sales Scoropions Second To None Inc Seedtime Publications Senner Sales Services Unlimited Plus Shirley's Globetrotters Shumate Sales Sierra Solutions Signature Sales Inc SKS Services South Pacific Sales Southcoast Circulation Inc Southern Marketing Group, LLC Southwestern Company Starfleet Subscription Services Inc Storm Enterprises Strictly Business Inc Stubbs Sales Subscriptions Plus, Inc Success Express Sales Inc Success Unlimited Associates Inc Summit Publishers Service Summit Sales Sun Circulation Sunshine Subscription Agency Superstars Sales T&B Sales Team USA Team Xtreme Teamsterz Sales The Experience Company The Real Deal Threedom Sales, Inc Ticoa Corp Titan Sales, Inc - 046 TKO Sales Tnt Sales Tomohawk Sales Tork & Associates, Inc Tornado Sales Torque Power Sales Total Dedication Inc Tower of Power Sales Travel USA Trinity Public Relations True Vision Inc. Tsunami Sales
Ultimate Empire Sales, Inc Ultimate Power Sales, Inc Ultra Kleen Unified Unified Family Circulation Unified Gold Key Inc Unified Producers Unified Stars Union Circulation Co United Entrepreneurs United Family Circulation United Reader Services United Subscription Agency United Subscription Service Corp United Subscriptions Bureau, Inc Unity Management Universal Sales Universal Subscription Agency Unlimited Sales Unlimited Sales Inc Untouchable Sales Urban Development Solutions, Inc Urban Nation Vadar Sales White Sales Wilson Sales Wood Sales Inc World Media Inc World Media International, Inc World Wide Circulation World Wide Readers Service World Wide Reader's Service World Wide Reader's Services WorldWide Circulation Worldwise Subscriptions Corp WOW Industries Xtreme Marketing, Inc Y & S Magazine Y.E.S. Yingst Sales Yoli and Associates, Inc Youth Employment Service Youth Incentive Marketing, Inc Youth Incentive Promotions Youth Incentive Promotions of America Youth of America Program Inc national career awards door to door
A blog about scams. Exposing the scams and giving tips on how to avoid them. At times making complete fun of the would be scammers.
*The comment section on this blog is moderated.
I don't see how you can post negative OPINIONS on this blog about door to door sales without doing any kind of research whatsoever. You have listed some companies on here (I don't know them all so can only stand up for a few) that have absolutely nothing to do with magazine sales at all!
ReplyDeleteThe one that stands out the most to me is PUBCO PRINTING. This company, located in Michigan City Indiana, is exclusively a printing company; they are in no way, shape, or form associated with any magazine sales companies. I know this because I worked there and I still live in Michigan City AND I have used the services of Pubco Printing. For example, I have used them for banners, wedding stationary and invitations, napkins, fliers and website design. They DO NOT sell, process, or publish ANY magazines.
So I suggest you get your facts right before you start blasting truly upstanding companies for no apparent reason except you are mad that you didn't receive a magazine subscription you ordered. Did you try to contact the company your subscription was ordered through? A better question maybe is this: HAVE YOU PERSONALLY ORDERED SOMETHING FROM EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE COMPANIES YOU LISTED AND NOT GOTTEN ANY RESPONSE OR SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM?
Somehow, I doubt it.
Hmmm, let's take a look at the company PUBCO PRINTING. Oh look just by doing a simple internet search which Maureen did not do, it shows PUBCO has the same address and phone number as Publishers Consulting Corporation which is also known as mag-full which is a scamming magazine subscription company. PUBCO is owned by Publishers Consulting Corporation and that is why the name is in the list.
ReplyDeleteI suggest you Maureen do research BEFORE you start blasting truly upstanding people who only are trying to warn others about these scams. Oh and you might want to research the companies you choose to work for.
Just got took for for 45.00 had to send my receipt for the order to the company "Literature Sales llc" this has been over a tear ago, no refund or Magazines. When I threatened with the better business bureau they took notice now I look and where I had to send my receipt copies it was Mag-Full. So I leaped with out looking.
DeleteWow there are at least 3 magazine subscription sales companies under the same phone number and address as PUBCO PRINTING. Also one magazine subscription company with the same phone number but in another state. Of course Publishers Consulting Corporation is also listed under the same address and phone number.
ReplyDeleteHoosier Magazines
(219) 874-4245
613 Franklin Square
Michigan City, IN 46360
Magazines Sold Door-to-Door
Magazine Fulfillment Corp.
(219) 874-4245
613 Franklin Square
Michigan City, IN 46360
Magazines Sold Door-to-Door
Coast to Coast Circulations, Inc.
(219) 874-4245
338 Soundview Dr
Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948-9046
Publishers Consulting Corp.
(219) 874-4245
613 Franklin Square
Michigan City, IN 46360
Copy & Duplicating Service
Did you bother to do any research Maureen before you came on here to put me in my place? Or are you working with the scammers to try and keep people from telling the truth about them?
It's clear what ever your reason is, it is tragically flawed.
As I said, if you'd read what I posted, I WORKED FOR THAT COMPANY. Have you ever heard of multiple businesses in one building? And don't propose to say that I'm not also a "truly upstanding [person] who only [is] trying to warn others about these scams". I would hate to get scammed by someone, but I also would never order something from a person at my door unless I could hand them money and have the product in my hand immediately (which I have done). I would not even answer the door in most cases!
ReplyDeleteI probably shouldn't care what you post as most people are smart enough to draw their own conclusions. However, some people WILL base their opinions on your opinion & that's what I would like to avoid. No, I do not work at PUBCO any longer but I do know some of the people that work there. It is multiple companies in one building and I'm quite sure none of them are scams. As I said before, did you call EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE COMPANIES YOU LISTED (regardless of the reason I originally responded to this) to see if they were legitimate businesses? No you did not. So I'm sure you are also basing your opinion on someone else's opinions. Not a great idea. Especially when you are clearly a smart enough person to know better.
Hmmm.... if it were multiple business in one building owned by different people they would have different office numbers attached to the address AS WELL AS DIFFERENT PHONE NUMEBRS! But of course you wouldn't think of that your too busy trying to prove me wrong.
ReplyDeleteI know you didn't look at any information posted or any other sites who also report door to door sales crimes, scams and other misdeeds of traveling sales people and the companies they work for. I wouldn't expect you to look for the truth your too busy trying to blast me because you some how feel personally offended about a company you use to work for.
Your wrong your former company is involved with other scamming companies. The proof has been laid out you refuse to take your blinders off and see it.
This seemingly innocuous ad was in the 04/27 edition of the local paper: "BETWEEN HIGH School and College? Over 18 drop that entry level position. Earn what you’re worth!!! Travel w/successful Young Business Group. Paid Training. Transportation. Lodging provided. 1-877-646-5050."
ReplyDeletehxxp://dexknows.whitepages.com/reverse-lookup shows 877-646-5050 is Success Express Sales, street address unavailable, Tempe, AZ. Googling the first 2 complete sentences in the ad returned a zillion exact hits. SES has been placing the same ad all over the country for the past few weeks and it's just hit us.
Those ad go out every summer. It is unfortunate but as long as the ad space is paid for newspapers don't really check to see if it maybe a scam. Sometimes I wish newspapers would take a more active role in checking out the source of their classified ad placers but that would require additional time and effort the newspapers don't want to commit to. As far as classified ads go it's always buyer beware. I hope nobody you know falls for it.
ReplyDeletesorry to say it, but we actually bought a subscription last summer from a really nice kid, didn't get ripped off. we got the magazine we'd been thinking about getting at a decent price. for whatever that's worth...
ReplyDeleteI do believe I was just visited by such a "sales rep." He was very charming, quite a cute guy and what a talker. I have to admit though, he was very nice in that when I showed him the balance on my student loan, he grinned and shook my hand and left (almost) immediately. He did, then, ask for a bottle of water, I got him a plastic cup of water...which makes me nervous now that I read that that is a stalling tactic. I don't have anything REALLY nice in my home, but do have an HDTV I would like to hang onto. But, he should know I'm home all of the time...I got laid off 3 weeks ago, so if they plan to rob me, they'll have to go THROUGH me, and I'm no easy tackle. LOL Thanks for the info on here...GREAT 411 for the masses!!!
ReplyDeleteJust like there are bad magazine sales companies there are good ones, however it is hit or miss when it comes to the bottom line of will you get your subscription or will you be taken for a ride or over charged. It you really want a subscription to a magazine get it from the source instead at least you know you will have consumer protections.
ReplyDeleteThanks for creating this blog post. I just got visited with one and made many of the mistakes.... except i told him i wouldn't accept giving out information to him. Then he was rude as he walked away! From now on i will not open the door. Thank you!
ReplyDeletei worked for a magazine company. i was young and had no conscience. if someone is standing up for a mag company it is most likely someone who still works for them.everyone in this industry, and now outside of it, realizes that this is complete ROBBERY. i wish i had never went door to door when i was younger, as now i have a family of my own. i have quite a bit of info about these companies and would not hesitate to warn people about them! they are vicious liars who take advantage whenever the opportunity arises.
ReplyDeletei worked for a magazine company. i was young and had no conscience. if someone is standing up for a mag company it is most likely someone who still works for them.everyone in this industry, and now outside of it, realizes that this is complete ROBBERY. i wish i had never went door to door when i was younger, as now i have a family of my own. i have quite a bit of info about these companies and would not hesitate to warn people about them! they are vicious liars who take advantage whenever the opportunity arises.
ReplyDeleteMy husband just wrote someone a check for over $200 I'm so angry I could SPIT. I got taken by one of these guys (nice college kids) a couple of years ago - did some reasearch and have said no to them the last 3 times they've been by. Fool me once - but you won't fool me twice.
ReplyDeleteMy DH better be glad is not in the house right now. Maybe I'll calm down by the time he gets home.
OH - this compnay was Dentie Subscriptions - googled it but can't find it anywhere... will check some of these other companies.
maureen its time to wake and smell the coffee you got scammed by the scammers and you even helped them scam YOU...sorry
ReplyDeleteI just got visited by a nice young woman selling magazines. Google brought me here.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the all too frequent grammatical errors really served to erode my confidence in this article. You lost me at "cease and decease".
Decease means "die".
Thanks for the good article, but please read what you write before posting. It only improves your credibility.
To Anonymous commenting on the grammatical errors. Thank you for pointing out the cease and decist error. Every time I typed it in the spell checker went crazy instead of trusting the spell checker I should have double checked it myself.
ReplyDeleteOh speaking of grammatical errors and perceptions you should have typed "I was just visited..." instead of "I just got visited...". "I just got visited" sounds so ghetto. See I can nit pick about errors on the web too. Please take into consideration normal people do make grammatical errors everyday and being a grammar nazi won't get you very far.
I enjoy, enjoy that you've shown the indecency of how nit picking can be. It's super funny, and you are soooo right! People should stop trying to take the mote out of someone else's eye before taking the pole out of their own. Even then, forbearing with others is far better. LOL!
DeleteTwo african americans came to my door in Lexington, NC about 2 hours ago. Both spoke of needing to win only $100 for college. I told them that they could be find other ways of making that much money for college. The second guy seemed upset at me, and I did feel threatened as a 5ft young looking lady. He eventually left. The company was TOPS something. The second guy said he was from Georgia, and the former stated he was from Texas. I asked the second who sponsored the program, and he stated that Regina Knox did. Looked up the company online, and the name given. So far nothing!
Deletewe just got vistited by some TOPS kid too. at first it seemed legit because in Louisiana, where we are, there is an actual TOPS program that focuses on providing scholarships for high school students. But when he said that it wasn't affiliated with Louisiana TOPS we got suspicious. he claimed it was an international organization that allowed students to sell magazines to gain so many "points" then he'd win $1000. But there were so many discrepancies, first he's from florida and just got to new orleans, then the scholarship is for single home families raised by single mothers, then he askd us to "vote" for him for a communication contest!!!!!!
DeleteI'm also in LA & was just visited by a couple of people with a similar story. It seemed legit enough at first & I was happy to help out with a fund raiser, but the more they talked the more key phases they were using that I recognized from selling perfume & jewelry from similar companies as a teen. Hint-whenever they mention your neighbor just did something, you're being pitched. Anyway I remembered how tough & miserable sales were so I bought a subscription to help them out, as long as they don't raid my bank I'm ok with giving someone $30 to survive. It's like you mention, it's the companies that are the scammers the salespeople are victims too. I also got pulled in by a newspaper ad for managers needed...& ended up selling perfume. I was told after selling a certain amount I would have my own sales team, so not wanting to sell myself I bought the product limit they mentioned. Well it was bs & I just got stuck with lots of perfume to give for presents. When they screwed me I also decided to look into the company a bit more. They gave us the back cover of a Cosmo mag that showed them advertising for credibility. Well I decided to go pull that old magazine at the library, guess what NO AD! It was all faked so us salespeople had faith in the product. While most people should have the sense to be careful with door to door is like to warn any teenagers who see these employment ads-IT'S A SCAM-you might make a couple bucks off of a sale, but you'll spend more on gas & lodging. You're better of delivering pizzas.
DeleteI normally don't buy anything from door-to-door salespeople, but last night, a young woman from Urban Nation reeled me in, hook, line and sinker. I bought a $60 2-year subscription. I didn't invite her into my home, but rather talked to her on my front porch. She observed that I was the "first person" to not invite her inside. I still didn't let her in. Of course, I did the dumbest thing and still bought a subscription ... AND paid by check! Thirty seconds after closing the door, I had misgivings, Googled "Urban Nation" and found this website, as well as others. I immediately called the number on my receipt, left a message and cancelled my order. I also sent a cancellation letter via certified mail today, stopped payment on the check and even closed out my checking account and opened a new one to avoid checking account fraud. My bank was so helpful in all this.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what I was thinking, but after one sleepless night, I've now rectified the situation and will never, ever make this mistake again.
A young lady came by my home and knocked on the door.
ReplyDeleteShe was very polite and quickly explained that she was selling Magazine/Books in order to earn enough money for a trip to "London".
I bought a book quickly (~$50) and was happy with the purchase. It has currently been 2 months and I have not received the book. I went to contact the company today. "First Class Sales LLC" is the company and is on the Website www.salesfirstclass.com.
I went to that site and entered my receipt number that was requested. I have done that over 20 times. It only sends an error. I then looked for a phone number. I have not been able to any phone number ANYWHERE! I looked up other information about this company and found only a negative and illegal information history.
I will never understand how they can be illegal, but able to continue in business. I wish I had a real address or phone number!
Thank you for posting this. I just was visited by the traveling crew here in Mclean, VA. Entreprenur Services was the company. I gave the boy $10.00 cash - because he was working so hard - and to get a commission he had to sell 7 over $100.00 orders. I knew it was a scam...so I gave the boy money not the company. He said he was from Chicago...ot was a long way from home!
ReplyDeleteOMG, the guy that came by my house last night said he was from Chicago. Hmmm....
DeleteOMG! There's a little jerk about 19 or 20 hanging around in front of Fry's Food and Drug at 731 E Bell Rd in Phoenix right now who says he's from Chicago. He's trying to win a contest to go to London. He said if I didn't want to buy a magazine I could just give him a donation. I wonder if it's the same brat!?
DeleteThank you for the information! I had this happened to me just last night! Could you tell me, have you seen any victims have any other fees for having put stop on their check? I dont want to be sent to collections by this bogus company then have to pay more money and have my credit ruined! Im a college student myself so I felt sorry for the sales girl. I'm afraid I will not be able to get the student loans I need to pay for medical school if my credit is ruined because of this! :(
ReplyDeleteSadly, we just got taken. My mother answered the door and even let the kid in! I was on the phone at the time n didn't know what was going on. I walked into the kitchen n the kid was sitting there with a glass of water! Mentioned someone coming by at another time in the past. We didn't buy any mags at the time, unfortunately my mom had already signed an order n given payment. I figured wtf n took a year sub of Automobile. Cancellations are going out tomorrow morning. We did cash but I doubt we'll see that money again. I'm more pissed about the fact that he was in the house. I would not have let him in if I had went to the door. Needless to say, doors will stay locked n alarm will be on at all times. I'm so friggin mad right now. Like I said, the money doesn't bother me bother me. It's the fact that he was in the house.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article and I hope more people find their way here.
I am pretty sure I got scammed. Man, the guy could talk and he wouldn't take "No" for an answer. I gave him $15 ("the processing fee") to go away. The company name was "Strictly Business 1" out of Texas, I think. I feel used.
ReplyDeleteThe "company" door2doorsuccess that came by my house had the same $15 fee which was his commission supposedly. Jeez!
DeleteTHANK YOU for your article. I have just moved into a nice suburban area, and I have had three of these characters come to my door in two weeks, both times they were trying to get into my house. The first time, I was unaware of this scam, but the guy asked to use my bathroom after I declined his "magazines," and it caught me so offguard that I stupidly let him in. I heard him going through my bathroom closets and vanity! (And for the record, you can hear when people "do their business" in this bathroom, and trust me, he did NOT.) Being female, I just wanted him out of my house and there was nothing in there of real value, so I just let it go when he came out, and I got him out the front door (and LOCKED it). I am now afraid for my own safety because of these frauds. The second "team of two" frauds came not two weeks later and made some stupid joke about not having four legs to stand on to write on their pad of paper, and that they wanted to come in and write on a table because they get graded on the neatness of their handwriting. COME ON. Bottom line: Do not buy, do not give your name, do not let them in, do not even answer the door. These guys are bad news all around. They try through "funny, pleasant" conversation to get information out of you -- any information -- they ask questions and you end up answering so as to not be rude. Do not answer the door. Tell them you are not interested, thank you, through the locked door.
ReplyDeleteI have had 2 guys come buy just this week. The both were trying to earn points to win some trip. I told my boyfriend about the first guy and he told me it was a scam. Just two days later my door bell rang and it was some guy. I specifically asked him if he was trying to sell me magazine and he said no, he said he was trying to win a scholarship to Cambridge University. Like Cambridge gives out scholarships for magazine sales. He then handed me a list of magazines. I immediately started flipping out. I said that I knew it was a scam and that he had to leave. He just yelled back at me. Everyone in my apartment complex was really proud of me for telling him off. Oh and all there information packets are just laminated lists. Like laminating makes it look real.
ReplyDeleteI just had a young lady come to my door with the same story that she was trying to earn points to get college scholarship. Her hair was oily, her clothes were dirty and she was blowing smoke in my face the whole time she was talking. I told her I wasn't interested in then she started asking me about my neighbors. I sent her on her way and called the police after googling the name of the company Youth for America. It came up as a scam.
DeleteI had a young boy, about 18, knock on my door at 7:30 in the evening a couple nights ago. He said he was doing a survey for a school project about different occupations and wanted to know what I did for a living. I told him I'm currently unemployed, which I am. He handed me a name badge and a list of survey questions which turned out to be magazine titles. I told him I wasn't interested, he said good evening, and walked next door. I am glad that I'm actually unemployed so he doesn't think I am gone during the day!
ReplyDeleteHad 2 of these sellers at our house in the past 2 weeks. First kid (young, like 13) told him no, he left ok. Second kid (Tyler, around 17-18) very surly and nasty when I told him no. The first kid was trying to get points for "scholarship" the second for a trip. The brochures looked the same.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter bought subscriptions several years ago while at college, on credit. Every month she was getting billed more and more money. This scam "sells" your debt to another co. (I bet its the same company under assumed name) We sent out letters threatening a law suit unless they stopped. She supposedly owed several hundred dollars after 3-4 months for 3 subscriptions! They finally stopped and we no longer heard from them.
Let you all be warned: Let the buyer beware. I never ever buy from door to door unless they are neighbor kids selling something for school or Girl Scout cookies.
From online research, "Strickly Business 1" out of Texas looks to me like a legitimate company; however, the business is for-profit and probably making a killing. But it is giving these young adults a start, at least. They have a website where they admit that while they have a social component, they are for-profit. I told one woman that I'd rather see her working at McDonald's to gain job experience, but she said she couldn't because she has a criminal record. After two months she was getting a 60% commission, and the young woman she was "training" got 40-50% commission. I'm guessing the business keeps the full $15 processing & handling fee.
ReplyDeleteSadly, this girl lied to you too. McDonald's hires people with criminal records ALL THE TIME. Where do you think people work when they get out of jail? Fast food, gas stations and discount stores.
Deletewww.stricklybusiness1.com
ReplyDeleteThis company is SB Magazines and changes their name/s frequently to allude authorities and continue their scam
Has anyone heard of Youth Opportunities Inc.? Fast speaking young adult came to my home 2 days before Thanksgiving selling magazines. I felt sorry for her and gave her a check for $10 as a donation. I sort of figured it was a scam when she wouldn't give me a receipt but not too worried b/c it was only $10. The check cleared my bank account in no time flat. Now after reading this blog I'm very concerned about my bank account information being stolen. Does anyone know if Youth Opportunities Inc magazine sales is a scam? Should I contact me bank? Should I close my account?
ReplyDeleteI just had the same thing happen to me and gave them a check. Would appreciate hearing from you it you get this - what ended up happening in your case?
DeleteHummm. Just spent time with a nice fellow who was "working on his masters" and wanted to get some "points" so he could "win" 5,000 for his education. Having dealt with many of these kids there is one thing common, what they gather in "sales" is turned into the "man" and it goes towards their hotel room! So sad that there are businesses out there using inner city youth with a carrot dangling as future wealth. They are brain washed and have a line for everything. I've even given cash to two girls who told me the truth, and provided a meal. Something should be done about this, but where ever there are crooks they are smart and can entice needy kids to do their bidding on the guise of a "better life"
ReplyDeletei got scammed by two kids competing for a youth group communication award or something, to win a trip. selling magazines(d2d consulting). I was gullible and trying to be nice but scammed. oh and thunderchick..... nice, i like the posts. lol "grammer nazi".
ReplyDeleteI gave money to one of these folks long long ago. Paid by check, never saw a single magazine. I was 19 and a bit more naive.
ReplyDeleteAlmost ten years later, I was sitting on campus when a guy came up to me, giving me the same sort of spiel. I live in Hawaii and he said they were from the mainland (oh, how awful it would be to get ditched and have to pay $800 to fly back home!). I immediately knew to tell him no. There were several of them all pouncing on student around the student center.
Today we got an email telling us that if someone asks us to buy magazines, report them to campus security. HA! I do kind of feel sorry for the kids, but they are also slimy liars who are complicit in this (kid said this was part of his "communications class, trying to make them better at speaking in public" ... right.)
A man working for "Strickly Business 1" came to our house last night. If you noticed on the receipt it said "Strickly" not "Strictly". My husband is way too nice and bought some magazines. I did some research and I'm pretty sure it is a scam. I also had a friend who bought some magazines from "Urban 1". She has yet to see any magazines. It's always the same story with the sales people. They're just trying to make an honest living. When doing the research I also discovered that many of these employees think the business they're working for is actually legitimate. Anywways, just refuse politely and beware of these scams.
ReplyDeleteI actually worked for two different magazine companies from 2001-2003 and don't have a lot of positive things to say about them. I got paid about $20 a day for working ten hours a day, six days a week. One of my bosses gave about $5 a day for a while, because my sales were down.We were outside whether it was freezing or or one hundred degrees. They dropped us off in lots of bad neighborhoods and I even went to jail twice for it. I did it to get away from my home life, I had no other options at the time. I know from experience that there are people with a record and no ID selling magazines,but, there are also harmless people that want to travel. The second company I worked for wouldn't even pay to send me home in 2003. Luckily, my dad got me a bus ticket home. That's when the company ASCI dropped me off at the bus station to spend the night there until the next morning.
ReplyDeleteI think I was scammed. A 20-something girl came to my door stating she was raising money for college selling magazines and she gets credits by the type of business the buyers are in. She said that she would recieve credits since my career is admin and my husbands is a co-business owner. I haven't recieved the follow-up phone call from her sponser, I can't find anything for a search for Frontline Communications, LLC. My husband has been looking for his digital camera for the past week, and that made me wonder. I did see something on the news last week about door-to-door salesman and I really think that this was a scam. I did give $63 cash and I will wait another few weeks to see if I really get a magazine in the mail. Thank you Terrie Marie
ReplyDeleteBarrudaki-Thunderchick,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this article. I was just scammed about an hour and a half ago at a local mall...
This young fellow came up to me and told me about how he was an aspiring DJ and that he hoped to win a paid-in-full trip to Greece. At first I was not at all interested in buying magazines for him to earn "points" but when he gave me the option of donating magazines to kids in a hospital from the list he provided, I quickly obliged. The cost was $40, and I paid in cash. After this transaction, I had an extremely funny feeling about what just occurred and I went home to google the company on the receipt (Alliance Service Co.) and found numerous complaints of scams.
Now, I know that I'm probably never going to see that $40 again, but I want to do something about this! I am tempted to contact the hospital to ask if they are affiliated with this magazine company and receive donations from them. To me, it seems like exploitation for this magazine company to use this hospital's name and address. It also infuriates me that they would even go so low as to say that they will provide magazines for sick children... how disgusting.
What do you think? Would it be wise to inquire and notify this hospital? I know it probably won't do much, if anything at all, but I feel like I should do something.
Well, I have a little sister who has been "toruing" with theis merry band of magazine sales epople for about two years now and is heavily involved in drugs and prostitution while on these cross country stints. I do not even feel safe for her to come back home because she has become entangled with some sahdy characters. Please do not fall for these scams. She brags all teh time about getting older customers to order tons of magazines and getting their money. It is for ILLEGAL USE.
ReplyDeleteI just had one of these guys stop over tonight. He told me he didn't like the company and was just trying to find any job he could. He straightly asked if I could just give him a few bucks instead of buying the magazines, and he didn't want to take my name because he didn't want to give it to his bosses. I gave him a few bucks. We talked for a few minutes longer, and then a stretch passenger van came rolling by outside the window, honking to pick him up. He said it was his 'controller' and he had to go. Weird. Doesn't sound like much fun.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had seen this article prior to getting taken!! I too, was scammed by these predators, New Beginning Enterprises. I wish I would have listened to my gut originally when they came by my home. I had newborn twins at the time and I turned them away probably 4 times before they sent the "team" in and showed up when my girls were sleeping. That was on Dec. 10th, 2010. Well it's been 3 months now, numerous phone calls, same story as the others, NO Magazine. I now know it is not coming and I got taken for $100. I just wish there was more we could do as individuals. I live in Spring, Texas in a large subdivision and I know I couldn't have been the only one who got scammed. But most of us are too embarrassed to say we got taken advantage of. At that moment a magazine sounded so good and they were sooo persistent, that I was just weak and bought it, even though that little voice said not to. This should be illegal and there should be recourse for their "victims"!!!!
ReplyDeleteDisappointed in Texas!!
Has anyone ever heard of this company:
ReplyDeleteCommission Sales, Inc.
205 Belden Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
A couple of young people came to my door and I weakened and "bought" magazines from them. He said he was from the "projects" in Memphis, TN and was trying to get himself out of the situation he lived in - drugs, crime, etc. Has anyone heard of the company? Thanks in Jackson, TN.
Yes, the address is familiar. I bought a subscription from a kid using the same MO-- sob story about ghetto environment and getting an opportunity by selling magazines. The "company" is Entrepreneurs Sales. Called them and left a message, but expect a call back.
DeleteInteresting that so many of these businesses seem to have a Michigan City, IN address. I called the police there assuming they would have be inundated by complaints. The officer told me that he was unaware of these scams, but he would look into it. Maybe he's protecting the scammers as the magazine scam seems to be the top industry in Michigan City. (The other is the casino business). I doubt if that address means anything. He told me it was a residential area.
I'm curious to know the legal actions surrounding these scams. I did buy the magazine knowing it was a scam instead of just calling the police. I don't have any faith in our police to get anything done. That's why I want to see where this whole thing is going. It has to be eradicated. That's altruistic, but I don't see why law enforcement can't put a higher priority on this stuff.
Is any law office at any level doing anything about this practice?
Some girl came by today saying she was an SDSU students and she was trying to raise money for a trip to Australia. She asked if I have ever traveled abroad and I said yes, extensively. She changed the subject and started asking what I did, where I would like to travel and what I liked to do for fun (because her boss needed to know she was visiting different people). She then said she needed to raise the most "points" to win this trip. She proceeded to pull out a laminated card with magazine titles and their respective point values. I told her I wasn't interested whatsoever and that I could "donate" magazines to kids in the hospital. What, are you kidding me??? What six-year old kid is going to read the economist?!?!?! I went to school for business and economics and it can be difficult at times for me to understand, what a joke! I sensed it was a scam and said I really didn't want anything (pretty adamant about it) and she left. Anyway, she seemed like she was a troubled soul i.e. flower in her hair, tatoos, and dressed like a hippie and hence I knew something was amiss.
ReplyDeleteJust be careful as they are pretty articulate and manipulative.
I heard a knock on my door this morning. Since I don't use my front door - just the side door - I knew it wasn't anyone I knew. So I went out the side door and out to the front to see who it was. He said something about having just been over at my neighbor's house, and that he was out working on his communication skills and did I have a couple of minutes to talk with him. I thought for a second - and then asked him if he was selling magazines. He said he was and I said no thank you - and he left.
ReplyDeleteReading some of the comments has made me decide to find out if they those people need to have a permit, so that if there's a next time, I can report them to the authorities.
I too met someone today. She said that she was earning points to get a scholarship to go to London. Also that she had won a writing contest and was going to be featured on BBC and asked if I was familiar with BBC and if I wasn't she could come inside and show me on my tv (yeah right) I didn't let her in. Oh and she said she went to UVA (then why aren't u @ school right now, duh!!) She asked me to buy some magazines and I could donate them to injured soldiers. Told her Sorry that things were tight and I couldn't buy anything. She then asked for a cigarette and began chatting with me again. She said "oh just buy one if money is tight, this would really help me out" I again told her no and quite abruptly she said "Fine, bye" and left. It annoyed me because I was outside with my children, luckily my husband was with me. I called my grandmother down the street immediately and told her that it was a scam and not to answer the door. Great post!! Very informative. Hope it really helps people :)
ReplyDeleteCommission Sales must have made there way from Memphis to Tulsa..they visited us yesterday afternoon. We were outside playing with the kids and couldn't avoid the sales hit. I never dreamed of saying no, though. I figured if this guy could spend 30 minutes in the hot sun talking to me about changing his life, even if it was a scam, it was worth the $85 to hear the sales pitch.. I just hope I get my magazine so that I can feel comforted that it wasn't a scam. I paid cash... previous lesson learned. He was here all day.. I saw him in the morning and again at my neighbors' at 7:00 pm. Thats a long day of scamming.
ReplyDeleteEntrepreneur Services is apparently hitting Virginia again (Arlington). The story the young woman had was she was part of a traveling sales team of disadvantaged young single mothers selling subscriptions in order to obtain a "managerial" position in "a small business". The glossy front page of the packet showed Entrepreneur Services in MN (porch lighting is bad so I couldn't read it), and after I explained my, "no cold call sales at my door, no exception" rule she said I could check their website which she identified as entrepreneur.com. Now I'm a bit concerned that perhaps she herself is being scammed as well. Entrepreneur.com, according to information both on their site and their domain registration information, is based in Irvine, CA, not Minnesota, and doesn't seem to be directly engaged in the door-to-door magazine sales business.
ReplyDeleteIn Omaha, NE, I was visited this noon by a 20-something man who rang/knocked loudly, then announced "NEIGHBOR!!". Well shame on me for accepting that and opening the door. "Hi, I'm Bill and Jane's son (gesturing east with no last name given) and..." then he launched into a polished, well-rehearsed version of the "BBC, injured soldiers, buy and donate a magazine subscription" schpiel. To his credit, it only took a single polite "no thanks" for him to move off. However! It's a bit annoying to consider that young folks are being trained to invoke both "neighbor" and "injured soldiers" in order to reach around to the wallet of a stranger in what is clearly a shady, for-profit undertaking.
ReplyDeleteI was just hit by this today. We get a lot of non-profits coming through our neighborhood requesting membership donations and I live in a very liberal neighborhood, so folks are supportive of them. I thought this guy was the same, except that instead of requesting donations, which I would have given, he requested that I purchase magazine subscriptions. I don't like or need any magazines but I took his suggestion and "donated" my magazines to the Ronald McDonald House because his organization sounded like a good one. My purchase was supposedly for three children's magazines for three years. The guy said he had gone to jail several times and was trying to find a way out of the gang and drug lifestyle, and wanted to be a better model for his "two little girls." The two little girls thing sounded like a sales pitch, but rest of the story sounded honest... if it was I will never know. He said that once he earned 20,000 points for his magazine sales he would have "completed the program," and he would be able to get a "real" job. It sounded like an organization that helps ex-cons get jobs, so I thought, great! We actually talked for a while about how prison is a revolving door and how there are so many obstacles to ex-cons turning their lives around and getting good jobs. I've often sympathized with that plight, but now I feel like I'll have to be more skeptical of even good organizations doing worthwhile work. How sad. His company was Urban 1, Inc. They do have a very hastily thrown-together website that supports all he said about it.
ReplyDeleteI got tricked into writing two checks out this past Saturday Memorial day weekend. I felt wrong about it and sure enough after searching the company Independent Contractor's Service with a p.o box in Florida I was really concerned. Before I went to my bank first thing Tuesday morning I quickly checked my account. I had two unauthorized charges. One that was $1 for Napster and the other for $99 in some pay service company in Africa! I have no proof that the two incidents are related but I cannot think it was otherwise. How they did it I don't know but my checks did have my account number.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I explained what happened and the bank blocked my account immediately so the checks will bounce. In addition, and here is the crazy part, the banker asked me if I was on the bloomingdales website memorial day. I said no I don't shop there plus I was working.These bastards tried to charge me $800!!! Thankfully it declined since I didn't have that much and that's when they did the one dollar charge on napster. He said that's what scammers/thieves do to check if the account is good. It's been a few days and I have to call in and see if the charges they made went through and if they did he said I can easily dispute them. I opened a new account and moved my money over. I also sent in the cancellation notice hopefully they don't bother me in the future considering the checks will bounce.
I wish I wasn't so nice and had not let my guard down they totally caught me right out of bed. All I know is hell will break loose if anyone dares to approach my residence trying to sell me something. A**holes.
We today was almost scammed a girl showed up at our door talking about how she was trying to earn points for a scholarship for school, so as I am listening to her whole story my FH prints this out comes to the door tells her its a scam and givers her the articles, she was upset ask to keep the paper and said she doesn't know what he is talking about. Maybe she really doesn't know she is part of a scam maybe this will be her wake up call and she will thank us later. Needless to say good thing he is a computer junkie lol . Beware the name of the company was TOPS- Millennium or something like that. Funny part is he ask to see her school ID, she said oh I don't have it yet Im going there in the Fall, raising money for a scholarship to a school your not even going too??? red flag for sure.
ReplyDeleteYip, me too! On a really cold day in Feb a very nice young man gave me all the song and dance so many of you describe. I only arrived in the US in December 2010, so i thought i was contributing to the youth of my new country. Oh well! Here are the details of the company that scammed me.
ReplyDeleteStrictly Business 1, Inc
2601 Cartwright Rd, Suite D
P.M.B 345
Missouri City, TX 77459
Toll Free (800) 643-0655
I have tried calling them on numerous occasions but only get the answering machine. I only realized that this may be a scam when i read your blog - thank you for providing the information.
Lucy
Oh my i did the stupidest thing and let this young woman use my bathroom. Im glad that its a guest bathroom and there is nothing there for her to steal. I did hear her peeing so she didnt lie about that. I told her that another girl came and i bought a mag from her and i never got it. Its weird because i live in a gated neigborhood and they still solicit. Thank you for this. I will not answer my door from now on! Im absolutely terrified!
ReplyDeleteJust had a 19 year old come to my door. He said he was trying to get points to earn money for college and hit me with a sob story about how he missed his senior trip but the company was gonna send him on a week l ong trip to Australia, yeah right. The are staying in crappy motels but are gonna send you overseas. Anyway he had a nice rap to him and stated how he was winning the contest but it was over in a few days so he needed me to buy and spend at least 50. Cmon I'm not stupid so I told him no but ill pray for him and I gave him five bucks just to be nice he got an attitude and walked out. This stuff is a scam I regret giving him anything they say wateva they think u wanna hear to get ya money he even gave me fake compliments that I know aren't true like I'm muscular I'm skinny as yell don't fall for it yall.
ReplyDeleteThey were out in West Milton, Ohio last night. Even with knowing a kid that used to do this a couple summers ago, I still fell victim. It took me about 3 hours to realize what I had done. I really wish I would have thought about it fully instead of being so worried about what was cooking in the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteThey are in Central Virginia at this time. I was hit up last night by a nice young guy, who told me that he had done three years in the Navy before being kicked out for having seizures, and now is going to be starting his freshman year at Ole Miss. Claimed to be from Hattiesburg, MS. He had a lot of questions for me, showed me his list of mags, I told him "no" and he quickly left. First, though, he wanted information on the neighborhood- which houses might be supportive. Unfortunately, I gave him info that I wish I hadn't. This guy was very persuasive.
ReplyDeleteSo I just received a visit also from a gentleman representing PS Circulation LLC as stated on the recipt.. There is truth to the "scam" aspect as well as reasoning behind why these companies still operate. Usually there is a legal 'clause' of some kind that allows them to escape being shut down. Being skeptical of purchasing, although I verbally committed to the young man- I had to get cash to pay for my subscription to the magazines. In this down time I did some research before landing here. I happened to notice a different website on one of the papers he showed me pccsonline.com. This site is registered to the company Pacific Coast Clearing Services Inc. Reading this reminded me of working for a similarly structured company selling an advertising opportunity on "local sports calendars". I did fairly well as a new sales rep from a newspaper job post and was highly encouraged from my "regional sales manager" via phone and web. After 30 days and receiving no check- my customer brought to my attention that they were not receiving the product and I was not receiving my paycheck due to a minimum production clause that the company could make within 120 days that gave them the right to cancel the production of the product and the customers legally had 3 days to received their refund if this should occur. The customer never receives a notice of cancellation or receives the product they purchased. Sometimes, however, if it is profitable to the company they will fulfill the orders and deliver the product. Some will have good experiences, but most will not- Makes you have to appreciate good salesmanship though :) Good people can be selling a bad product... Best rule of thumb to follow on all purchases- Be smart, informed and don't buy on impulse.
ReplyDeleteI had a sells man here at my house yesterday. I have a really bad felling and I can not get it out of my head. He told me he was a foreign exchange student here for college. He told me to order books from him. The cost any where from 50 to 1000 dollars he said. I did not buy anything from him. I was at home alone and my husband was at work. He kept asking me if he could come inside my house but I told him we could stay on my front porch. My two small children were inside so I was not going to let him inside. I told him I could not buy anything with out my husbands permission. He kept telling me I can make chooses on my own. I know I can but I was trying to make him leave. He kept asking me if my husband worked and what hours he worked. I told him my husband does not have a job and he was just at the store. My husband does work for 14 hours a day. He then asked me what houses had children around my house, I told him I did not have any idea. I do but why does he need that information. I never go the name of his company or anything. He told me he would return to my house the next day at 6 pm and never showed up. When he left my house he did not stop at any of my neighbors houses. He said he was at my other neigbors house but I never saw him. When he was leaving he also asked me if I couold fill up his bottle of water for him. I did but did not let him in my house. I am relly freaked out because he was asking about children and their ages and he saw that I had children. Just worried he is going to watch my house and realize my husband is never home.
ReplyDeletei sold magz and i thought it was legitimate at first then i realized it was a huge scam. then i was stranded in california and i live in pennsylvania. door to door sales one of the biggest mistakes in my life
ReplyDeleteWell, they just hit Altoona/Hollidaysburg PA. I let him in, but I slipped my little .380 in my pocket when I heard the random knock at the door. He gave me the song and dance about points, trip to Australia (which later turned into Brazil, and asked alot of strange questions. I gave him a fake name and when the issue of payment came up he said he could only take cash or check. I said I didn't have any on me and then he said he would get more points if I did an ATM run (how would they confirm that with cash?). I told him I only had a credit card because I was hoping to sick my CC company on him and his company when they inevitably screwed me. The other strange thing is his gave me a "bug off" tag to stick on my door "to let other sales reps know not to bother you". Seems like an easy way to mark houses for other things...
ReplyDeleteI work from home so I'm here 90% of the time, I kinda hope I get a late night visit ;)
I think that if people only took more time to educate themselves there would be less problems with scammers getting away with anything. This site Pest control door to door scams educates homeowners on how to protect themselves. It teaches them to do their own research and investigate first before buying. I think that if we all would do that and not be afraid to say no on our doors, we could always avoid trickery and later anger.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I had a visit from one of these sales ppl yesterday evening. My husband answered the door, then asked me to come talk to the guy, b/c he'd said that our neighbor had sent him over. I immediately got my hackles up, thinking "yeah, right." The kid wanted to come in, but hubby refused. He showed us a brochure of magazines I'd never heard of & said if we didn't need the magazines, we could donate them to St. Jude's Hosp. (children's mags) I thought "yeah, right," again. My husband thought that was a nice idea & agreed to do it. I told hubby I didn;t want anything to do with it. The kid delayed telling us how much it cost, then wrote it on an invoice. Hubby changed his mind when he found out it was $56. the kid wasn't wasn't too happy when we told him we couldn't afford it & walked off in a huff. Afterwards, hubby told me he was glad he didn't give the kid any cash or bank acct. info.
ReplyDeleteI really don't know anything except my son was told by a company he post as Mag that he worked with on facebook and calls me and says he is selling magazines to pay his traffic ticket cuz me and his dad said we were not helping this time he's 19 and time to grow up! He calls says he's in another city and selling magazines to pay his fines..They were suppose to take him there to pay them when they got back a few days later Aug. 28th 2011. I looked on line and his fees were not payed and his friend who introduced to this magazine sales says they were taking him to pay his fines and then to Lexington KY..I've heard nothing from my son in 2 weeks and am very worried because its not like him. Iam so tired of crying and lost on how to find him when his friend apparently lied to me as well saying the company was NCA and its MAG which is the name of our Church so did not make the connection because he has worked at the church until I saw your blog...thank you sooo much for caring enough for those lost teens who can be stuck and dropped of with nothing and that scares me to death...Please if theres any info anyone has to what my next step would be to finding my son i would be so greatful. I believe he's being lied to and feels stuck and don't want to let us down! Thank you, Coles MOM <3
ReplyDeleteDo these companies send bills? One of these kids came to my door last night and I was dumb enough to sign his receipt, but I ended up not giving him any money, checks, or other information. Will I see a bill at my home address soon?
ReplyDeleteI'm a college student who made the mistake of trying to help someone out. He came to my door, talked SO fast I could barely understand what he was saying. He kept asking questions to draw you in (to throw you off guard and not give you an exit in the conversation).
ReplyDeleteAnother tactic I noticed he used was to say something like, "Now you don't make a habit of abducting and killing door-to-door salesmen, do you? No? Good, then you wouldn't mind if I just used a surface of yours to write on..." Smart, making the customer feel like the ones who need to prove they're a "safe" person, detracting from the fact you shouldn't be letting them into your home. He was so nice and charismatic, it seriously was like I was in a stupor. He knew all the right things to say, and before I knew it I was hurriedly signing a check to help him earn points towards a trip to Mexico (despite being broke myself). I didn't have time to read the receipt (stupid), and after he left I Googled the company name (DSS inc) and saw a bunch of scam alerts.
I put a stop payment on the check, but now I got a letter from Payment Alliance saying that I had to pay an additional $20 since the check was returned, and the fines were going to keep wracking up, and eventually they were just going to electronically debit it from my checking account (which I realize is impossible).
I feel very foolish and stupid after all of this. Lesson learned. The other day I was on campus and there was another salesman, and he used the same tactics! Making me feel like I was the one who needed to prove my safety, rather than him. Super fast talker, but this time I was smart enough to brush him off.
Anyone ever hear of the Youth Across America Program? Young man in his teens came by today selling magazines. He said if he earned so many points he would get money to start a business. Wondered if this one was legit or a scam. I told him I couldn't today, didn't let him in my house and then felt strangely guilty for not buying anything. Then I found all this after googling so I guess I'm glad I didn't....
ReplyDeleteI am staying in hotel. For several weeks, there have been a dozen or so punks stirring up trouble, harrassing current residents for no reason. One of the gang leaders lost his id card. I found it. MD Networks. The card itself raises questions. "MD Networks, Youth Communications Awards. Authorization to solicit via interstate commerce participating in the yourth communication award program all participants are subjected to background checks and random drug tests." It has a picture of the lead trouble maker, his alleged name and address, like a driver's license. On the back, it gives a "Memorandum of Law". It cites supposed laws saying it is illegal for any state or local ordinance or statute to seek or extract any license or registration from anyone canvassing for subscriptions for a magazine published outside the state. Thanks for the blog post. I couldn't find any information on this company, but it sure looks suspicious to me.
ReplyDeleteCommission Sales, Inc. out in Utah today. The kids are supposed to be from Chicago. Very pushy and strange.
ReplyDeleteThese guys can be scary! I once had a girl show up and knowing it was a scam told her to go away. She did. The next night a scrawny, unkempt guy with lots of jailhouse tats knocks on the door with the same pitch. I told him a girl was by just the night before. He called me a liar. I told him to leave and he started cursing and yelling at me. Luckily I had been at the range that day and just finished cleaning my shotgun which was in reach at the end of the sofa right by the door. I picked it up and pumped it even though there were no shells in it. He left.
ReplyDeleteI got scammed today at the local Wal-Mart. Was shopping for a Halloween costume with my 3 year old daughter when a guy looking to be about my age, early to mid-twenties, stops me with the line "Actually, can I talk to you for a minute? You look nice and not stuck-up. You're not stuck-up, are you?" He seemed like a down-to-earth, kind of nerdy guy so I proceeded to listen to his spiel about how he was doing this survey thing for his college, which then turned into him trying to sell me magazines in order to win points for a trip to London. He talked about a mile a minute and kept bringing up all these "examples" of funny situations with people he had sold magazines to in the past. He even went so far as to show me a picture of his 8 month old son. I ended up giving him $58 in cash for a Disney Magazine subscription for my daughter, with him claiming that I would receive a $45 money order back within a few days since I had ordered the subscription as a "gift". Honestly, the thought of it being a scam never even occurred to me until I got home and starting talking to people about it. Now I can't sleep because I keep going over all of the shady things about the scenario that I should have realized at the time. I mean, the guy didn't even give me a receipt, just said that it would be sent to me in the mail. The money that I lost doesn't bother me, but the idea that I was that stupid is driving me crazy. Oh well, I basically paid that guy 58 dollars to teach me a valuable life lesson--don't be so trusting.
ReplyDeleteI was stopped at a local Wal-Mart as well, but I was at my car with my 3 kids. These guys really do not give you a way to get out of this stuff. I actually got the Disney magazine a few years back from one. It's actually a Family magazine, not bad, but I only paid $20. This guy, after an hour of me saying no and having 3 crying kids, convinced me to buy a $62 magazine. What I have learned from this experience is A) just say no is not good enough and B) call the police. What this was was pure harassment. He wouldn't let me leave for a full hour despite me saying no. I have sent emails, filed a complaint with the BBB and contacted my bank. This was NCS.
DeleteHad a guy at my door today in SE DC. Gave the same selling magazines for points to earn a scholarship. Showed me all these signatures from my "neighbors" who gave him cash. Pointed out how the pens were all different ink to try to prove they were real. I told him I had no way of knowing if he was legit so he showed me his ID. It had a website on it...doortodoor something. Anyway, I said he could come back in a few minutes after I check the website. He said his company had a rule that once you knocked on a door you couldn't go back for 365 days! Huh? I said I couldn't help him then. He said, what.s the problem? I said, you won't let me research the company. He was obviously irritated and said someone else may knock and maybe I'll help them.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll stop answering the door.
It may not always be door to door!! This happened to me at Wal Mart two weeks ago. There were two "college aged" students selling magazines and earning points to win a trip to London. They were supposedly business students at the University of NE and all the other business majors in this class were doing the same thing. He was very convincing, offered many incentives, and even sat in a place in front of a store camera to ensure it wasn't a scam. I still have not received my receipts in the mail, the website I was given does not exist, and I have no way to get ahold of anyone. Complete SCAM!!! I am so frustrated. Never trust any offer like this unless it is someone you know and trust!
ReplyDeleteBeen bugged by three of these kids just this month alone. The first girl said she was from North Carolina and that she wasn't from the area. Ooooooookaaaaayyyyy.
ReplyDeleteAll three of the kids wanted points to earn a scholarship, and then out came the magazine list. I handed it right back and told them "Sorry, but we're on a tight budget right now and can't afford it." I usually had to push this point, but the most recent young man, I didn't even have to give him that, just told him he was the third person to come to our door about it, and that the answer hadn't changed. He just nodded, shook my hand, and walked off.
When the inevitable fourth visit comes, I'll hold the kid for a while, call the police, and see to it that (s)he gets back home in one piece. The kids are the real victims.
I got sucked in once before myself, by a company called "Grassroots Campaigns." They played to my very much bleeding heart and sucked me in, and then they dropped me in a Philly suburb with "mentors" as we tried to get money out of folks. Couldn't even take FIVE MINUTES to rest my feet because the sheer amount of walking was starting to take its toll. Didn't make a dime and I was fortunate enough that they had given us all SEPTA tickets back to Philly, where I was able to catch a connecting train back to NJ and I never looked back. I only wish I didn't spend so much money on lunch and the like that day, but at least I didn't end up (unintentionally) scamming folks or had my money taken by those scum myself.
Well, I got taken on July 28, 2011. It was by PS Circulation LLC. My husband and I moved to Northern Virginia at the end of 2010 when he retired from the military. We lived on an Army post for so long, that I never had to worry about people, other than children doing fundraisers, coming to my door and trying to sell things. It wasn't allowed on post. Oh, how I miss that! In the year we have lived here, I have had so many different types of people come to my door trying to sell me things. I normally tell them, "No thanks." However, I felt this guy was being honest with me, which HE may have been, but the company certainly is not. He was an African American gentlemen, well into his 40's. He said he was selling magazines and trying to win a prize. He told me he was recently let out of prison and was trying to get on his feet. Maybe it was a sales tactic? I can't imagine many people admitting they were in prison to try and get people to buy things from them. Of course, if it was a lie, it worked with me. I believe people should have the chance to turn their lives around. I felt respect for this man, that he would be honest with me, and seemed to realize that he had done wrong in his past, and wanted to change his life for the better. The guy and I talked for a while, and as I said, HE seemed genuine. He said he was also involved in working with young people to try and keep them off the streets and out of jail. He asked me how I've stayed on the straight and narrow, and I told him, I believe it is because of my faith in God. We talked a little bit longer on my front porch, and I decided to buy some Pixar Books for $55. He was very appreciative, and showed me on his paper how many points my purchase would give him towards earning the prize. I gave him a check, and he said "Make sure you make it out to PS Circalation, and not to me. I don't need to go back to jail." Then he gave me my receipt and told me that he would enter my order into the system that night, and I could check my order status on their website in a few days, and if I wanted, I could cancel the order within three days. When he left, I didn't think I had been scammed. When my husband got home, I told him about the purchase, and he immediately thought it was a scam. Of course, he was right, I now know that. A few days later I tried to check my order status on their website, and I kept getting an error message. After a month, I sent them an e-mail asking about my books, since they had all ready cashed my check. Surprisingly, I received a response, and it said to give them time, because they had 120 days to fulfill the order. Whatever... It's been almost three months now, I sent them another e-mail today requesting information on my order, even though I know they have no intention of sending my books. I feel like a fool, because I made a purchase without checking into it first. I guess the one good thing that came out of it was, that I put a "No Solicitations" sign on our door. I had been meaning to do it for some time, because I was tired of all the door to door salespeople bothering me. Since then, NO ONE has rung my doorbell or knocked on my door, other than the Post Man or UPS guys. It's nice not having to worry about that. Plus, it's just not safe to open our doors to strangers. Oh well, it cost me $55, but I learned my lesson. Hopefully, people will find this website, and not get taken like I did. Also, especially ladies, please put a "No Solicitors" sign on your doors. I am the type of person that feels obligated to answer my door if someone knocks. Now with the sign up, if it's not someone who's supposed to be there, I no longer feel obligated. I don't believe there's much I can do now that they have my money, but by the end of the 120 days, when I don't receive my books, I am going to report them to the BBB, and write PS Circulation a strongly worded, guilt inducing, "shame-on-you", e-mail!
ReplyDeleteMy son is 22, lost his job, and jumped on a Greyhound to Nashville in response to an add for "Street Circulation." He is living in hotels, doinig door-to-door sales, and clueless about the risks and legal issues involved. We have tried to stay in contact with him. They run from town-to-town. He gets paid if he sells, and the owner "holds" his payment for hotel and food charges.
ReplyDeleteA young black man just came to my door and told me he worked for a company and was trying to get a promotion and asked if I could help him out. This guy was one of the slickest talkers I've run into in a long time.
ReplyDeleteWhen he asked what I did for a living I told him I was retired. When he asked what I did to afford this nice house I live in I told him I used to sell magazines door to door. He gave me the high five sign and continued his pitch. I told him I already get over 20 magazines a month he said he knew but he still wanted me to help him get his promotion.
After about 10 minutes of this mindless banter he started to get antsy and knew I wasn't going for the scam he said he needed to go. I continued to ask him questions and he was nervous about bolting away as my pit bull was standing next to me. I finally told him he was wasting his talents and time selling magazines and he needed to get into real estate or automotive sales and make honest money using his 3 years of magazine skills. He said he really needed to go and I said so long and good luck.
These guys come to my door about once a year and I wear them down as I let them know I'm not your average simple minded mark they deal with. I came in and looked up this web site and am adding my 2 cents worth of experience.
There's a lot of good information above by people that have learned the hard way. Don't give some door to door scammer a personal check with all your information on it. Don't give them a credit card number. Ask them for a brochure on their company where you can look it over and buy over the internet. (That will stop most of them in their tracks, they don't have any brochures.) Tell them that most magazines now offer an introductory rate of $10 a year which is true and way cheaper than their sales prices. Don't extend any prescription to any magazine you are already getting. Don't be a fool. Don't buy anything from a door to door sales person. Use the internet to research scams like this to refresh your persistence to not be scammed.
A couple of weeks ago my boyfriend mentioned to me that someone came by our apartment trying to sell him magazines...then today when I got up 2 of them came by again.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't even make clear that they were selling anything, they kept telling me they were doing a 'public speaking contest', and that they needed to prove that they'd spoken to people...then they showed me a list of magazine titles with no prices, just point amounts. They looked kind of sketch, the guy who came by last week looked like he could be from a church or something, but this time a girl came by with tons of tattoos...no offense to anyone, I have tats, too, but hers looked like jailhouse ones and I thought it was weird that a company would hire someone with tattoos all over for door to door sales.
They told me that if I didn't want anything I could get one to donate to a hospital...I thought that sounded good so I said I'd get one, but they said they could only accept cash or check. I told them I didn't have any cash and that I didn't write checks, but that if they had a website I would buy from there. At that point they kept pressuring me to go to an ATM for cash, which made me feel like I was being robbed, so I told them I was late for class and they left.
So glad I didn't give them money, since this is apparently a huge scam.
I had a young man come knock on my window who then saw my 8 year old daughter and yelled "It's okay to open the door it's just your friendly neighborhood salesman". I flew to the door to see who it was and it was a magazine sales person. I was telling him to leave immediately and he still tried to sell me magazines! He was clearly on drugs. He started yelling at me telling me I am a B*tch and he was going to kick my white @ss. Luckily I was on the phone with 911 while he was screaming at me as he was walking down the street. My husband came around the corner on his motorcycle and I told him what had happened. He chased him down, ran over the guys foot with his motorcycle and proceeded to knock the crap out of him until the Sheriff across the street broke it up. The cops finally got there and the guy had no I.D. or anything on him. I didn't have him arrested because I didn't want my house getting vandalized or broken into. So, THAT was my experience with a door to door magazine salesman! DO NOT ANSWER THE DOOR FOR THESE PEOPLE.
ReplyDeleteI have had at least 5 run-ins of this type, both in TX and AZ. Fell for it (only once) on campus about 10 years ago and lost $40 cash. Another time (when I was young & stupid), I let a guy in to use the bathroom, but didn't buy anything. They're on the loose in my neighborhood now and I want to put up signs to warn my neighbors (elderly condo residents mostly). Love the story about the motorcycle/foot incident. HA! Everyone--warn your neighbors & other ppl who live with you. Just say no and don't open the door. A good way to deal with this: if someone you don't know rings the doorbell, put your cell/cordless phone in your hand and pretend you are on the phone. If they are not someone you want to talk to (sales person), say "I'm sorry I'm on the phone; I am not interested". It makes it easier to shut the door in their face and not let them start in with any slick talk. It is hard for "nice" people to say NO, but it is OK! You HAVE to protect yourself.
ReplyDeleteUnity something or another is canvassing the San Francisco Bay Area. I felt sorry for the young woman such that she apparently left her home in Chicago to do this, e.g. knocking door-to-door in the evening hours. She seemed heart-felt and was certainly talented with the objection-handling. I did not purchase anything from her, but I wish I could have felt confident in helping her directly in some manner without exchanging money (for all the reasons cited in this blog.) After I expressed interest in her, that is turning the conversation around, but then very politely saying 'no' easily more than five times, she intrepidly headed off into the darkness to knock on the next door!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately my husband and I were scammed. Mid summer of this year, we heard a knock at our door. We answered and it was a magazine salesman. This was our very first experience with a door to door salesman and in our first home, so needless to say we were inexperienced and naive. The salesman chatted up my husband for a few minutes and then my husband invited him in. I felt comfortable at first, my husband was right there, what could go wrong? Well, my husband picked one magazine and asked me to choose one. I chose one and the guy filled out the "form" in five seconds flat! The pricing was outrageous and I began filling nervous and wanted to back out. I suspected that the pricing for the magazine of my choice was overpriced and he only offered four year subscriptions for both. I go and grab my husband's wallet and realize that I don't even have enough cash on me for the two subscriptions and this guy starts pushing me to go to the ATM or give him a check! He advises me to go to the ATM at least three times. At this point, I have a horrible feeling but my husband thinks this guy is ok and gets the money together for him. It is now December and no magazines and I can't find this company anywhere... Positive Attitudes Across America. The salesman was supposedly a college student attempting to win a trip.
ReplyDeleteThis evening while I was upstairs my wife answered the door to a young lady. The young lady was selling magazine subscriptions for the troops apparently and my wife wrote out a check to 'Lifestyles Success Inc' to the tune of $63. My wife is educated and should know better than to just hand our bank account info to a stranger. Anyway, I'll be canceling the check and changing our account tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI had a guy with the nerve to approach me in the parking lot at a mall! I was insistent that I needed to get inside and we talked there... it pissed me off because he said he was a college student and needed to earn points to win a contest for his class. I wanted to help him win, but only when he knew that, did he pull out the sales pitch. This made me mad so I decided since I was not in a hurry to be anywhere, I would waste HIS time :) I let him try again and again to convince me to buy and each time I looked for cheaper options than he was recommending. I told him I did not have enough money for what he wanted to sell me so he proceeded to tell me that I could use my debit card and cancel after the weekend was over and get my money back. I told him I had bills that were due and that I would have to think about it. You should have seen the look on his face! If you are gonna be a playa, you should realize when you are being played right back. Like I would ever give my debit card info to some random person! This annoys me because crap like this actually makes it more difficult for the school kids to sell anything as people don't trust any of the companies anymore.
ReplyDeleteHello from Corpus Christi,TX!
ReplyDeleteI got scammed today. He was about 19 and pitched me this story of trying to improve his public speaking skills and how he was trying to win a contest to go to Germany. He said he was a new neighbor kid and handed me this laminated pamphlet nearly falling apart of various magazines. I looked at it and he continued to talk and talk. He asked me all sorts of questions, like where we were from and whether we were going home for the holidays. Asked if we were a military family because his own dad was an Army MP (military police)probably saw our Marine Corps plates and thought he could use that. By this time he talked my ear off and I had handed him a check for $69 dollars. Geez. What a sucker I was. An hour later my husband came home and I told him I screwed up and we needed to find this kid to get our check back. We found him around the corner and my husband politely said he needed that check back and the kid handed it over. As I was sitting in the car I noticed this white passenger van come up behind us and when the kid walked away he jumped into the van. We called our bank and flagged our account to check for mysterious charges. Best to be safe than sorry. He could have written down our account info!
Bottom line...just say no. Unfortunately, you cannot trust anyone except those awesome girl scout cookies cause they never fail to be tasty!
Also this happen to me before in VA but the kid was mean so I didn't even give him the time of day.
This just happened to me a few weeks ago. I live in las Vegas and work on the strip. One day I was sitting in planet Hollywood shops waiting to go into work and two of these guys approched me, I actually had seen them talking to someone else earlier. They were super nice, asked me about myself and told me about themselves. Same story, they were trying to win points to win a trip. The one dude said he was gonna go on vacation if he won. The other said he was going to send his parents on the trip if he won. Anyway they were super slick talkers, so charming, talked fast. I honestly didnt even realize they were selling anything. They suggested I donate magazines to children's hospitals, and never mentioned prices or anything, I didn't realize I would have to pay anything right then. They gave me very little detail. Eventually I agreed, assuming they'd bill me or something. They also gave me the 'bug off!' Sticker incase i was approached by any more of them, they told me there were hundreds of other sales people there. So then they asked for cash. This caught me off hairs because that didn't seem like a very legitimate way to so buisness, not to mention they hadn't told me a price. I didnt have cash, and I told them that. They told me the bullshit about how they get more points if I use the atm. I finally asked how much the magazines I picked cost. They said 60. I told them I only had 20 bucks for the next week, which was true. They asked me to write a check or go take it out of the atm. I told them I could not give them my last 20 bucks. They made me feel so bad about it, they legitimately put me on a guilt trip, then they left me alone. I felt so bad I almost cried. Then I ran into them again an hour later, and they walked up to me and said 'hey sorry to bother you but you're so pretty I just wanted to talk to you about something.." I cut him off and told him that they had just got done guilt tripping me an hour ago. They apologized and left. I felt so guilty about it all night and then I began to wonder if it was a scam, and the more I thought about it, I realized it was. Then I googled it and found this, and all of these comments sound exactly like what happened to me. so glad I didn't give them money, and glad to know I have no reason to feel guilty. Now I wish I could run into those fuckers again, they had no reason to make me feel so bad.
ReplyDeleteSo, like others have said, keep in mind they aren't just door to door. they approached me in a public popular vacation spot.
Someone solicited me at my parents home in Waco, Tx. She asked me, "you believe in second chances, right?" She said she was working on her communication skills. It took over 15 minutes for her to even get to the point that she was selling magazines. Lots of guilt tactics. I told her I would like to help her directly and not buy the magazines. When she said the minimum I needed to spend was $324, I asked how much of that she would see. She said about half. I told her I did not want to buy any and she became angry and said I didn't care about her baby. Sad, because I think a lot of the details of her plight are likely true, but working for an exploitive company will unfortunately not help her. My advice would be to try to help them see how they are being taken advantage of and to look for another way to earn a living, as difficult as that may be fr some of them.
ReplyDeleteour neighborhood watch group are now all meeting the door with a camera phone or camera and immediately taking the picture of the salesperson without opening the door...then we expain that our neighborhood patrol will arrest them immediately if found in the neighborhood, and that our group all turn over all pictures to the police so that if any burglaries turn up in the area, they are suspects.
ReplyDeleteThey leave immediately.
I used to work for these people for a very short time and I have to say that they are users, drug addicts, liars, rapist, and thieves. The even prey on their own employees to make them tons of cash. The owners of the company are Marni and Eugene Weldon, these are evil people. they stranded me once they seen that they couldnt brainwash me like the many others.They were known as unified stars before, look it up.
ReplyDeleteLast week I was visited by two males about in their 20's or so.
ReplyDeleteSelling something for a education scholarship. They claimed to be from Louisiana one of them seemed pretty shady while the other kicked his pitch. I've seen some of them walking around the neighborhood in the last couple weeks. So I decided to google info on these scams. You really explained very well the tactics used by these sales people. Exact to be honest. I turned them away and they left. This evening I got another knock at the door. Thinking it was my wife who had just left thinking she forgot something low and behold another salesman. This time it was a bald guy that actually looked run down or recently out of prison. He asked my name and tried to be friendly in a push kinda way. I looked straight in his eyes and said I wasn't interested. Finally he got the message. I observed him as he left and he definetly seemed irrate. I will be very vigilant in the next few weeks. My area is fairly safe and calm. They prey on the weak. And seek out opportunity. Or as you said look for their form of theft. Good blog and keep it up.
I was visited by a mag salesman today, got quite interesting. The guy was polite at first, but after I declined he started getting pushy. He then asked for $10, I declined. Then $1. No dice. A quarter? No. He then told me it'd be better than him "kicking in [my] back door or breaking into [my] car." This struck a cord, so I walked back inside and watched as he walked across the street. He then started getting loud with my neighbor, so I came out and attempted to snap his picture with my phone.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, he lost his composure. He started rushing me, covering my phone with his paper, then chest bumping me a few times, tried to make me flinch as if he were about to swing, ect. Luckily, he didn't lol I tried to get a look at his badge, but he made that quite difficult as well. I asked him one final time to cooperate with me or I'd call the police, and he dared me to do so.
Once I got 911 on the phone, he reapproached the house, looking up for the house number, then writing on his pad as he repeated' "Okay, okay.." The police showed up very promptly, he had only made it maybe halfway down the block. They took down his information and gave it to the gathering of residents in the street. The guy claimed he was working for "Door2doorsuccess.com" which from a quick glance appears to be not an actual employment site, but a testimonial site about traveling sales in general.
Watch out for these thugs! Don't invite them in, and if they are pushy, close the door and call the police asap! The way the officer explained it 9/10 times the companies don't have proper peddling permits, and once they realize the jig is up, they move on. Hopefully nobody comes back for revenge..
Safety Harbor, FL, Jan 13, 2012: Four women working for Interstate Subscription Services, Inc. were in my neighborhood selling magazine subscriptions. They were in a maroon color SUV having an Illinois license number 87659Y. Watch out for them, they are dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI have a question.
ReplyDeleteStory is the same. Mine were Youth Communication awards, and this weed smelling women asked for my name and address. I have given wrong name but my real address. Also, I have given my phone number.
Is there any charge going to be on me?
I ran into this scam twice in one week while I was living in a rental house in a shady area of a college town. The first guy was a really nice guy, the second was a complete douche. He got super upset when I wouldn't buy from him, and tried to pull the race card. I told him that I'd just turned down a white guy a couple days before with a MUCH better attitude, so how was I being racist. So he started cussing me and threatening me on my own front porch. He left after he picked himself up off the ground from falling backwards in shock when I pulled my pistol on him and told him to get off my property one last time. I called the local PD but by the time they finally arrived the guy had long disappeared, they were always convinced the people in our neighborhood were just paranoid anytime we called them though.
ReplyDeleteAnd then today, thinking I'd left all that BS behind me in the city, I am back home, and see one of these creepers next door at my 85 year old grandfathers house. He told him he had won a scholarship from the BBC, and the magazine proceeds would be going to the VA and cancer research, and when my grandfather told him he wasn't interested he tried to convince him to call some neighbors for him, he told him get off his property and slammed the door.
I came around the corner of the house and saw the guy leaving so I went in and told my papaw what it was most likely and made him lock up. I walked back home and saw the same creeper bent over in the ditch across the street from us picking stuff up. I went inside and called the Sheriff's dept and told them we had a magazine peddler who I suspected of being a scammer of some sort. I saw a cop driving slowly in the creeper's direction of travel about 3 minutes later! not bad for rural Mississippi deputies!
I left right after and saw another deputy sitting in my grandfather's driveway, so I pulled in and told him what was up, and he took off after his partner right after.
Wow! I just experienced something similar to this early in the evening, and I am very happy to say I politely declined. There were two gentlemen that came to my door, 22 and 20 respectively. They were really nice and they were from the south. They had the cutest accents and I almost fell for it! One boy even explained that his mom and sister were killed in Hurricane Katrina! They claimed they just needed money to earn a college scholarship based on the amount of points they received. He begged claiming he only needed 3 more sales! I felt so bad and even went and got my check book. HOWEVER something in me kept saying no ( I never do door to door sales for a reason!) It was a holiday and I was happy to see young gentlemen trying to make a difference. As I remember now, they were very inquisitive and kept asking a lot of questions. ex. Where I was from, how long I lived there etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteI pulled out the last minute! and after reading this blog I'm glad I did!!!! The sad part is I wonder if he made the Hurricane Katrina story up or if it really happened and he thinks the company is legitimate. Either way, sad this is going on.
I'm in Miami and was visited this evening by a guy who looked to be 25-30 years old. He told me that he wanted to go to college to be an actor and that he was new in town and from Texas. He explained that he was selling magazines in order to get points to win a contest that would get him a scholarship. After asking me some questions about myself he picked some magazines that I might enjoy. When I asked him about pricing, it all added up to $136 at which point I told him no. Fortunately, he didn't give me much trouble and just said "ok" and left. Part of my felt bad for letting him go without buying anything but after reading these posts I guess I did the right thing!
ReplyDeleteThere's a team in New Orleans presently who begin, when you open the door: "Hi! I'm the new kid you're adopting. . . . Just kidding." I encountered it while visiting a friend, then at my own house. They say they're "earning points" in a contest that will get them investment cash for their own business if they win--and that they get points by your agreeing to send a magazine to a hospital. They're very well rehearsed and have an answer for everything, but it just makes no sense. After a lengthy discussion and my refusal, she asked for a bottle of water or a piece of fruit.
ReplyDeletei live in St Petersburg, FL and was just approached by 2 young ladies.. they were students trying to get points to win a competition with the prize of traveling to the carribean. They asked what my husband and I do for a living and for each question I answered they would get points towards the competition. They were selling magazine subscriptions and when I declined I told them I had no method of paying for it now.. so she said I accept checks so I replied that I didn't have any checks on me and she said ok let's go to the ATM i'll ride with you. I told her no thank you and she got upset and left. She even asked if she could come inside and use my table so she could write down my info (to get more points). Of course I didn't let them in - next time I won't even open the door.
ReplyDeleteI had one of those creeps come to my house in Memphis TN and sold me $50 worth of magazines because I felt sorry for the salesman. But after checking into their company address 205 Belden st Michigan city, In, and if you check zillow it's an abandoned home? And I never recvd the mag's.
ReplyDeleteI was scammed for $87. The back of my check, as it looks from my bank, appears to show a bank account at Citibank #322271724. Strickly Business 1 Inc, 203812441. I don't think I have any recourse, but thought I would make the information public.
ReplyDeleteWell, this month they are in South Carolina. I did not read this article until after the girl left but I had a funny feeling from the start. I didn't buy anything and I called the Sheriff. He pretty much confirmed everything I have read here. I was dumb enough to let her in my house and you can bet she was soaking in all the surroundings and when I told her I wasnt buying anything she asked to go to the bathroom. She was awfully quiet in there LOL. Luckily there was nothing in there she would want. I posted a warning on my Facebook page for my friends who lived in the area. Sure enough tonight (2 days after my post) one of my friends said they showed up at her house. Evidently one of her neighbors called the cops also and while the salesman was at my friends house the cop pulled into her driveway and on his intercom told the kid to come away from the house and spent about 15 mintues talking to the kid and made him leave. In a way I feel really sorry for these kids that are carrying out the scams but they HAVE to know what's going on. It's sad and infuriating at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI have a receipt from Direct Youth Marketing, Inc. out of Kittredge, CO.- no phone number. Boy do I feel dumb. I should have gotten a clue when she asked for part of the payment in cash. Now that I've read your blog it seems so obvious that it was a scam. Never received the magazines. They cashed my check within the day. This was 3 months ago. There hasn't been and odd transactions out of my checking account. Do you think I still need to close it?
ReplyDeleteJust had this happen two days ago in Moorpark, CA. A 22 yr old "nice" college looking kid trying to raise funds and win a contest to travel. Claimed to be a film student at Cal Poly Pomona and was presently working on a BBC piece. He also claimed to live two blocks away. I am new to the the neighborhood and didn't want to "offend" a neighborhood kid or his family. He also said he knew my neighbors up the street (he didn't except that he had just scammed them for children's books) He came to the door at 7:15 PM when we were putting our 5 year old and 4 month old twins to bed. He kept pushing that he needed to hit a sales goal by 8:00 PM to "win" that day. I tried to push him off twice but he was very persistent. Claimed he moved here from Arkansas and had pictures of his two year old boy which he showed me. I am pretty savvy but was in a good mood and fell for it writing him a check for $55. He then went next door and I listened to my neighbor chew him out and tell him to get out of the neighborhood immediately or he would call the police. I have since seen the receipt of this company (Experience Sales, LLC out of Pheonix, AZ) elsewhere on scam alerts. I have alerted my neighbor who also bought from him and have put a stop payment on the check, which cost $31. I also closed the checking account, what a hassle!
ReplyDeleteIt really is sad how many people get taken in by these scams. It's actually pretty easy to just not answer the door or just say no. I don't know why people get taken in so easily. Obviously, if someone you don't know knocks on your door or approaches you in a public place, it's probably not a good idea to buy anything from them. Unless they're Girl Scouts. Then buy yourself some Thin Mints and enjoy.
ReplyDeletehad a friend fall for this scam in Florida - had a group thrown off campus for pulling this scam in Alaska and have just had them knock at my door in Wisconsin - glad i didn't fall for it but scary that these kids are being taken advantage of (for the most part) and glad I was there so hub didn't buy the paper like we've been talking about doing
ReplyDeleteJust had a girl at 8pm on a Wed night from a company in Missouri City TX. Suckered me into talking for 15 min. I felt bad and listened. She asked tons of questions about me and what my husband does.o I didnt subscribe or buy,but I wished I hadnt answered the door. Im freaked out she was scoping the house. I didnt let her in but man, I wish i kept my mouth SHUT!
ReplyDeleteyes yes yes they all are scams i worked for these guys awhile back sb mag and second2none mag are both scams if anyone of them come to your door its really not his/her fault there probaly just hungry i lost contacts but the owners name is lou/loucious pierce and reese if that helps track him down get his ass plese hes driving 750 bmw off selling fake magazines moving from state to state scamming
DeleteI was going through old records and found I wrote a check for a subscription I NEVER received in June of 2010. The thing that scared me is that as others have said they have your name, address, phone number, SIGNATURE on the check, routing number and BANK. Great. The company in this case was Freedom Sales in Houston, TX.
ReplyDeleteI just had 2 shady looking guys come to my door claiming to be part of a communications project where they could win a trip to Europe by gaining points from talking to neighbors. I suspected they were the yearly magazine salesmen and asked my daughter's very large boyfriend who happened to be visiting to answer the door. They didn't ask us to buy anything, but they kept asking if they could come inside to use our table to write our address on their form to prove that we talked to them. My daughter's boyfriend told them we couldn't help them. When they wouldn't take no for an answer,he threatened to call the police. They left after that. Both kids looked like drug users.
ReplyDeleteI feel like such a moron for falling for this crap! But it does make me feel a little better knowing I'm not the only one. Gave $45 to a guy that said he was earning money for his fiance's schooling by earning points for selling magazines/books that would be donated. Really pisses me off. So, I don't get it, do these people KNOW they are scamming us or do they think they are really going to win something too?
ReplyDeleteA young man came to my house selling for NCA magazine sales. He said he was earning points for a trip to Spain. I gave him $20 cash without ordering anything. I told him to choose a magazine to give to charity for me. I don't know this kid's story. He may be earning points, he might be trapped and wanting to get out, or he may take my $20 and blow it. I had done some research and found that these organizations can be terrible for kids who fall prey.
ReplyDeleteYes the story goes on. They are working Denton, Tx. and surrounding areas. One nice "young" man showed up at my gate Saturday, March 31 saying Miss Cherie told him to stop by. Hmmm, Miss Cherie, my neighbor who is 80+ yrs old is named Cherie S. Then he tells me how he goes to UNT, is the son of an Marine and his family lives on the street just 2 over from us. He also says he goes to Cherie's church and she told him we might be interested in purchasing some magazines for his trip to London and the BBC. He then tells us how another University went over and got drunk and got into a street brawl and now his university's trip was in danger of getting cancelled if they could not raise the money to cover any legal incidents they may get into over in England. Not having heard of this SCAM before, my S.O. and I purchased 1 book from him. We gave him a post dated check, as we had just incurred a wopping $350+ vet bill for one of our dogs, which we ended up losing later that next week. He was "very undrstanding" about our financial situation... "oh a post dated check was just fine." My S.O. even wrote on the front above the date "NOT TO CASH BEFORE 4/13/12." He took my S.O's. State issued id card number and wrote it on the back of the check ... thanked us profusely and left. On April 4 the check was presented to 1st Place Bank in Ohio and cashed; even though it was post dated. It hit my bank on the 6th of April almost overdrafting our account. I called the bank(BoA) and they basically said too bad, so sad. Nothing they were going to do about it. It was presented, honored and cashed and there was no way to stop it or get the funds back..."so call the Company, World Wide Circulation and get them to send the funds back." They told me. When I tried to look up World Wide Circulation... I got an eye opener that it was a SCAM. No where can I find a number to call to get info on cancelling the order and getting the funds back and even 1st Place Bank will not talk to us, as they are QUOTE:" a small neighborhood institution and know nothing of any scam run out of their bank. BUT we could contact their Risk Management Dept and see what other recourses we have." With BoA being no help, I now watch everyday with dread that our account will be compromised and our funds liquidated. I just came out of cancer surgery 2 months ago and this is really stressing me out as funds are tight with over $82,000. worth of medical bills. I am going to go to the DENTON Police Dept and file a complaint, those from what I've read do little if any good. And yes he did ask if he could come in "where it was cool and talk" and we told him our dogs would not like it, so he asked for a glass of ice water. Thanks for posting all the articles, I will now spread the word to anyone who will listen that this is a SCAM and please do not get taken in by these slick, fast talking scumbags.
ReplyDeleteI had a girl with multiple piercings come by my home yesterday evening. I live in a condo complex. She started off asking me if I ever had to do public speaking and then went into the points system. She also threw out a line about adopting her for a week and followed it up with a "just kidding!". It's obviously one of the things they're trained to say to make you feel more at ease. Red flags started to go up for me as soon as she started asking me about my job, if I have a wife/girlfriend, and where I've traveled to in the past. I gave her vague answers at best or outright lied. She started to fill out an order form with my name and address. I thought it was odd she had to ask for the zip code. Wouldn't she be aware of that already if she was going door to door? When she tried to sell the magazines to me I gave her a line about not having any checks and no cash. That seemed to work and she left. Fortunately she never asked to come inside or anything like that. A couple hours later when it was dark I was outside my unit and I saw her still walking around. She asked me where the exit was to the complex and when she rounded the corner I think she got in a car w/ out of state plates from TN. I'm slightly concerned she has my name and address but then again, it's public info so it's probably not a big deal. What has me more worried is the possibility of these scammers scoping out places as potential burglary targets. Can anyone confirm if that's happened to them?
ReplyDeleteI had a guy from PS Circulation LLC enter my gated complex in Mountain View CA last night. Fell for his spiel, wrote him a check but had a niggling feeling for the rest of the night something was off. Googled the company this morning and lo and behold, "F" rating from BBB, with the majority of complaints for failure to deliver their product. I found this link and immediately called my bank, closed the checking account, and notified the housing office. Turns out I wasn't the first to report the guy. They promised to notify security and fix the main entry door so it would close and lock properly.
ReplyDeleteI was at the mall yesterday and a young man in his twenties came up to me giving the speech about how he earns points and something about it paying for his girl friend to go to school. He then pulled out the mag booklet and of course it only had points on it. I asked how much they were and he said it depends which one. He also told me that most people just have it sent to charity. So he told me this one magazine was $10 and that he only takes cash and how they would send me a 501C3 for the contribution. When looking at the form I questioned him because it said on there they were not a non-profit and he said this company on the form isn't but this one is. I was about to give him the 10 but was feeling uneasy about it, then he tells me it is $15 that there is a $5 processing fee. I told him you did not inform me of that, well it is different depending on how or what magazines you get, most people don't have a problem with the fee. I ended up telling him no thanks and kept my money. He got up and left but was nice about it. Afterwards my daughter and I realized his story about himself changed some, first it was the college for his girl friend, who then became his fiance that just had his baby 28 days ago in TX. I was thinking then why are you here in a different state.
ReplyDeleteThey are in California now north of Sacramento. My neighbor and I were talking outside next to the garage, when suddenly a young girl (she looked like she was in high school) said " Hi I usually don't do this, but I wanted to know if both of you could vote for me so I can win a contest." Her name is Kacy, she is 19 years old, she is from Oregan, she says she is half maxican, half german, (she just looks like a white girl with a tan) She has wavey curly hair, she is 5'4'', she has brown hair, she says she is Mormen. She says when she wins she will be aloud to go on a trip for two weeks anywhere in the world. She says her father is in the marines, and she wants to go and become an officeer, she says she knows how to speak spanish, and Dutch.
ReplyDeleteShe then hooked us in as a young innocent girl that needed our help. We both didn't have any reason to say no, it was a nice sunny day and after all what could happen. After we gave both of our addresses, full names, and even phone numbers, She then told us to pick three magazines we like and this is how she gets points. She showed us a well taylored laminated menu of types of magazines with pictures, and then she gave us a crappy typed up paper of just the magazines names for us to choose three. All of these magazines are well known magazines that you can be found in magazine racks or online. After choosing the magazine she then gave us a total of $109.00 for a two year subscription. Then she asked for cash. I asked "Do you accept check or visa?" She said " yeah but we want to make sure that you get your magaiznes. Dead presindents (cash) are the best way to do business." I told her ,"I don't have the money, and I can't produce it out of thin air." She asked if we can go to an atm, I ended up telling her no. She said," first people of the morning and your all ready turning me down." She then walked off and so did we. Realizing she took our names, phone numbers, and addresses, I wished I didn't give her that. Well at least she didn't anything else. Now I am arming myself with a camera and speed dial to my local PD. That's what happens when you think your doing something nice for someone, you get suckered.
They are still at it in a company called Independent Contractor's Service, out of Delray Beech, Flordia. Someone from this company knocked on our door yesterday even though we had a sign asking people not to do so. It turned out to be a young man named Jay Barrett or Barnett. (It was hard to read his name.) He wanted to sale magazines so he could get some points. He visited with my husband for about thirty minutes and asked many personal questions like "Where do you work? What kind of travel do you do? Does anyone live next door? What do you know about the people across the street?" He went on to say how our neighbors were good people because they had given him over 500 points. After talking a while, my husband bought something and paid for it with a check. I felt strange thinking it might be a scam. We called the number on the receipt, but there was no answer. Furthermore, He listed our address as NC when we live in TN. We have contacted our bank to stop payment on the check, but are now concerned. I went online looking for info and found your blog. Thanks for posting it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great info! I'm going to print this blog and put it in the lunch room for my employees to read - I would hate for one of them to fall victim to these scams (my employees in customer service are all very polite and helpful, exactly the kind of people who get suckered into these scams)
ReplyDeleteI've had two of these 'sales' visits this week. When my husband told the second kid that someone already came by - the kid said "they always send out the losers first".
My first encounter was about 5 years ago when I lived by myself. The guy seemed nice and genuine. He gave me the public speaking story and asked me several questions: Where am I from? How long have I been here? (I'm British so the accent gives me away), Are my family over here? What do I do? Am I the homeowner? He told me he just met my neighbor, nice guy - I didn't know my neighbors. Of course I declined his offer but realized after he left all the information I had given him about myself: white, single, small, foreign female who doesn't know her neighbors, lives alone, no scary dogs, one vehicle parked right outside (so if it's not there, neither am I), rented apartment, no family that will check in on me if they don't hear from me for a few days!
During the course of the conversation it just seemed like normal friendly chit chat, but afterwards I felt like someone would eventually find me dead in my apartment chopped into tiny pieces!!
Yup! Now working in CT- this time a single A/A woman, about 40, former drug user trying to get her kids back, magazines would earn her points, we could give the magazines to a doctor's office, etc. etc. Same old/same old. She was not pleased when I put a stop to my husband giving her a check, but went quickly. What a manipulator. I'm not at all sorry for her- probably little of her story was true. There must be a manual somewhere to teach these kind of "communication skills." Anybody run across a book/website like that?
ReplyDeleteJust had a young man; said hes was from Jacksonville, FL here to "better" himself. I feel like printing this string off and giving it to him. Seemed like he he is unaware he is being take advantage of. Thanks for all the input. This co. is called "Opportunity Sales Inc.".
ReplyDeleteThis stuff is scary...
Same here. Nice guy ya di ya diyada Instead of Magazines it's Clear Miracle Multipurpose Cleaner Degreaser. Opportunity Sales Cleaning Solutions P.O. Box 8807 Michigan City, Indiana 46361.
DeletePhone: 219-809-9165. Selling cleaning solution that's environmentally safe and gets "every" stain out....etc...Now I wish I had given him cash instead of check for his own efforts of selling this product..great sales---so persistent and confident, again he would not take no. The other part of these scams is they always say you don't have to buy the mags or product but can give the product to kids somewhere in need or in this specific instance the product would be to clean graffitti (sorry spelling) in Inner City Schools. So, this is another way they won't take no for an answer. You don't want the product, give it to someone in need. He said one neighbor spent $2500 -- who seriously needs that much cleaning product?! They make you feel bad and try to convince you that you are really helping a young guy get ahead (single with 2 kids--had tattoo of his daughter's name on his arm--and of course showed me pictures.) I hate it that with this instance and many they are being scammed as much as we are! Guess Im calling the bank Monday morning! ugh! Brentwood, TN
I live in MN and I just had a strange man come to my door at my apartment building. The guy was probably in his early 20's, had many tattoos, and he seemed like he was high off of something. He told me he was trying to get people to donate childrens books to different locations. I looked at the locations and they were typed up on a sheet of paper and all far away from where I live, on the bottom of the sheet he wrote in two locations that were closer to where I live. He said that he gets points for how many books that he sells and if he sells enough he will get to go on a trip to Europe. I told him that I was a college student and can't donate a lot and asked him which book location would cost the least. He picked out the books and I asked how much it would cost and he wouldn't respond. He then asked my address and had me sign a piece of paper. I then asked again how much is it? He said it says right here on the sheet $60. I then said I'm sorry but I will not be donating that much. He claimed that since I signed the sheet that and if I didn't donate that he would have to make up the $60 and pay for it himself. I then told him I'm sorry but you wouldn't tell me the price. He said that he did because it was on the sheet and I said that I asked him multiple times and he wouldn't tell me. He then asked if I would donate a small amount and I asked what he considered a small amount. He said my neighbors donated $30. I said I'm sorry but like I said I can't donate a lot so I offered $10. He said we only accept cash and we get more points for it. I told him I didn't have cash and that I could write a check. He then got a little upset and said it wouldn't be worth it because it would take $5 to process the check anyway. He then gave me the guilt trip for at least 5 minutes. He said it was fine and then gave me a "bug off" tag. After he left I thought about it more and more and it just seemed more strange. He was making small talk with me and was asking if I like it in town. He claimed that since I was a school counselor that he would receive more points for that. After he left I let me husband know to watch out for a salesman when he gets home. He came home and I described the situation to him. He asked what the guy was wearing. I told him and he said that he saw him outside just hanging out on an electrical box. My husband was upset because it scared him that I was here alone. I called the city dispatch and they didn't really care to hear what I had to say and they said they here about salesman all the time but I think this one was very strange.
ReplyDeletethey are in RIcmond, CA today in FULL force. I henced something is wrong. My husband almost gave in as injured soldiers is very dear to his heart and I said "no, don't you remember" we have a big expense coming up - swhich we don't but he took it as a clue to stop.
ReplyDeleteThe girls came back 3x. i need a phone, I need a table, I need water, blah blah blah.
I was at the mall two nights ago. My friend and I were in the mall past closing time, so there weren't many people walking around at that point. As we were walking, a guy around our age approached us asking if we "were nice people?" He then proceeded to ask if he could talk with us for two minutes so we sat on the bench with him. He explained that he went to PSU and was in a public speaking class. He was a "DJ" and was part of a contest selling magazines to win a trip to Australia. He was so nice and charming and really attractive, so I didn't think for a second that it was a scam. (Never been scammed before). He told us it was 76 dollars first, but since we both said we didn't have that kind of money to give away he eventually settled for 19. He even went on to say that I was "very beautiful." (Charming like I said). I went to the ATM and pulled out 20 in cash and gave it to him, telling him to donate the Zoobooks magazine to St.Jude's Children's Hospital. I felt like the whole thing was a little shady so I googled the company and found this site as well as another forum complaining about young adults selling magazines wanting a trip to Australia- the same story he had told me. I asked him where he was from and he said Baltimore- a long way from Oregon. Not sure if he's really from there or not, but he's a long way from home. I don't even care that much about the money (although I could use it, I'm a broke college student) but I really don't like that I was lied to and that they are using something like St. Jude's to get people to give them money. Terrible! I hope someone files a lawsuit against them- they need to be stopped.
ReplyDeleteYep . . . totally just paid $40 for a valuable lesson and to feel stupid. I sure hope those sick kids get at least something.
ReplyDeleteI got taken 9pm on a Monday night by a well dressed young man selling books for PS Circulation LLC in Dallas. He rattled a bunch of my actual neighbors names and that they had purchased the books. So, I felt secure in the fact that if they were buying - it must be ok? Wrong. It's been a year and nothing has turned up. I've called and sent them emails and no one has responded (www.pscirculation.com). Stupid me.....
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I were shopping at a local mall near Charleston, WV when a young man asked for a moment of our time. He said he was from N.Y. He said he was with a non-profit company raising money to send the victims children of the 911 disaster to school. He also told us the person that earned the most points from raising the most money for the children won a trip to any where in the world they wanted. He showed us pictures, business cards and ect. He was very nice and out going but would not take no for an answer. He used "Please, Do it for the kids." over and over. Me and my sister both unfourtainately both gave in. My husband was very upset when I returned home and told him. I tried to cancel my order but it has been 3 months now and I never recieved my refund. My sister never recieved any magazines either. This scam make me so sick. If you want to help kids, go through one of the many respected charities (Ronald Mcdonald, Childrens Miracle, St. Judes). The name of the "company" I was scammed by was A.C.E INC.
ReplyDeleteI got scammed, too, back in late summer, 2010. I wish I had listened to my gut. I should have seen he was up to something when he said he was from California- what is he doing in suburban Rochester, NY? He was nice, but something about him had me fearful and a little intimidated. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but lost. Only $51.00- no magazine, of course- but the worst was the self-kicking. DON'T BE FOOLED.
ReplyDeleteA report by The New York Times run back in 2007 on magazine sales scams and the youth that are taken in and abused by it. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21magcrew.html?_r=1&fta=y
ReplyDeleteI'm so sick of these people! They always say they are doing this for their public speaking class and are trying to get "points" by getting people to "vote" for them. I just blurt out now, "Are you selling magazines?" They always look like they came straight from jail and it pisses me off. I have four kids and I don't like these guys knocking on my door.
ReplyDeleteThese people are making the rounds in neighborhoods north of Albany, NY. A young man said was trying to win a national communication award is how he started the conversation. I asked him if it was for a local school and he said no. Then he started talking about points he needed to earn to win a trip to paris. He was a very smooth conversationalist. He would ask questions to keep you involved and pull you in. He asked my first name. Used the a line like "Your name is XXX like the actress XXX but more beautiful." Then came the line about you can donate the subscription to a child's hospital or soldiers overseas. He was asking me what I do for a living and my boyfriend started yelling from the other room to get rid of the person at the door. Then he asked if he did something wrong and I said I don't have any money to buy anything from him. He had the laminated cards with a list of magazines on it just like the others.
ReplyDeleteThey are back in PA-Altoona. Had a young lady drop by yesterday evening asking about my husband and my jobs. She then started in about the points she could earn (I didn't hear the specifics from the first part of her story as I was trying to keep my one-year old from running outside). She was so personable, and finally got to the sales pitch portion of her speech. My husband tried to get out of purchasing anything, which is when she told us we could donate our magazine to kids! Well, I fell for it, and agreed to pay $60 and handed over a check. I even let her use my (guest) bathroom...
ReplyDeleteI had such a bad feeling about it, I googled and found this blog (among other sites). Sent my husband out looking for her a few hours later to get our check back, and low-and-behold she was just hanging out about one street over. She happily handed our check back, but then proceeded to ask to use my husband's phone to call her handler. $60 gone, one lesson learned. Ugh.
I live in the NE suburbs of Atlanta, and I just had a very charming, fast-talking young man come around this afternoon. He was very affable, and seemed very nice, and he cracked a couple of jokes, which did make me lower my guard a bit. He told me he was recently out of jail and was trying to turn his life around and that he had a daughter. I was leaning toward helping this kid out, but when I started asking more questions, he was very vague about what company he represented, and even more vague about what magazines he was actually selling and I started to get a feeling something wasn't quite right. I asked him if there was an option to go online and buy, and he said he "wouldn't get the points" that way. So I told him I had no cash or checks in the house and I was going to have to pass. He said a friendly goodbye, shook my hand and left. Later I kept thinking about it, and just had a bad feeling, so I did a little googling and found this site. So I went down the street and warned some of the neighbors, who I found out had actually written him a check.
ReplyDeleteWell, two young African-American men met me at my door when I got home from work and started off with their hard luck story. Being a white guy in a middle class neighborhood with a heart for people, I thought I'd see what they wanted. Wasn't sure if they were selling something or what. I should have said "no solicitors" but spent the next half hour listening to their story and once the guy "Milano" got in my face, I said that was the end. He wanted me to buy three to five years of a magazine subscription for $3 per issue. What a nut. It took him forever to get to the offer since he was rambling on and on. The second guy was definitely just learning the ropes from him as he said nothing and didn't even step on my front stoop. His catalog was a ratty folded three page green thing that had been through the wash.
ReplyDeleteI think he scammed one of my neighbors just before coming to my house. You feel bad for these guys, especially when you realize that they are being scammed. It works like a big pyramid scheme. The lead guy said if he got 3 more points, he could start taking a salary. And then his buddy would be able to go out selling for him, and so on and so on. He got the idea, but probably didn't realize that no one ever gets their magazine. When I asked if I could make a donation to this organization that is helping him out, he was aggitated.
Never again. If I don't know them, I won't open the door. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and local high school fundraisers - no problem.
They are in the Atlanta suburbs. You should have heard the lines this kid was throwing out. Said he was 18 and from Detroit, his girlfriend unbeknownst to him was bi-sexual and beat him up, he has a 2 year old, has been in jail twice, etc, etc. Didn't fall for it. Hope none of you do either.
ReplyDeleteThey are in San Diego, Ranch Bernando.
ReplyDelete"Hi, Im neighboour - points for trip - kids books - hospital - all the questions (weird/why).
And more ponts for cash/ATM. How would the boss know if the cash comes from wallet or ATM?
And these stickers to put on the doors, what the hell? So the others would not try to scam you for the second time?
Is there any way to put these companies to take responsibility? They are selling products they never deliver, no lawsuite?
My 20 year old daughter went to work for a door to door sales magazine. They paid for her bus ticket and her 18 year old boyfriends bus ticket, from a small Arkansas town all the way to New York. When the kids worked 3 weeks, they were ready to get out and come home. The manager of the magazine company dropped them off at the bus station with no phone or money. Please do not let your kids go to work for these people and my daughter said she knew that magazines were not being delivered to customers after they paid cash money for their subscriptions. It's far too complicated to explain, but to make a long story short, I had to file a missing persons report on my daughter and after researching these places, there are far too many kids that come up missing and some found deceased when they are ready to get out. Beware!!!! Beware!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteReporting from the Massachusetts South Coast. Just got "interviewed" at the door by a girl-boy duo claiming to be competing for a $5000 prize for the best "communications skills." It's all complete mumbo-jumbo, and those "communications skills" are obviously their ability to sucker polite householders into buying magazine subscriptions. Their MO is a relentless, tag-team snow job that is quite slick and well-rehearsed. I got the whole spiel, including the reference to my next door neighbor, yadayadayada.
ReplyDeleteWhen I didn't go for the subscriptions, they tried to sell me on buying books to donate to the Boston Children's' Hospital or the USO--my choice. All the while they are unfolding various greasy looking laminated sales material and creased, rumpled sheets of printed paper with supplemental information crudely written in.
Fortunately, I kept my wits about me and keep asking inconvenient questions--who is sponsoring this and why--because when you stop to think about it, none of their slick patter makes a lot of sense. It's all a complete con. After they waved an expired Nevada business licence in front of me and insisting that they were registered with the local police--I could call them if I wanted--I finally insisted that I don't buy anything form organizations I know nothing about, and asked them if they could leave me information so I could follow up. Of course, they weren't prepared to do that, so I politely sent them away, wishing them luck.
The companies they mentioned being behind this "contest" was an outfit from Nevada called Duncan Inc. The magazine sales were handled by a company they referred to only as PCCS.
In retrospect, after reading this blog and all the comments, I feel lucky that I got away with only a few minutes time wasted. I do regret having given them my full name, which they began to use to fill out receipts before realizing that I wasn't buying anything. I am used to local young people coming around raising money for charity and school projects, so I didn't put my full guard up quickly enough. Live and learn!
I think the kids themselves are among the victims of these schemes. When times become desperate, young people can be more easily lured into involvement in these shady scams.
I just got scammed. Nice guy. Very polite. Fit the complete profile of wanting to put himself through college to get better life, etc... Water-bottle stall technique and everything. Richard Jones - working for Strictly Business 1 Inc.
ReplyDeleteI bought 3 magazine subscriptions for the Chicago Area YMCA & wrote a check - but stopped payment on it about 1 hour after I wrote it because of this blog.
WHY? Because I was stupid enough to let the guy use my house phone (from the front porch) to call his buddy as he was late to get to the pick-up point (his name was "Snacks"). Snacks must have "butt dialed" my home about 20 minutes later. When I answered, there was only a background conversation. Snacks didn't realize that I was on the line for 7 minutes listening to their conversation:
Snacks: Did you get a donation?
Richard Jones: No - but she was a really nice lady and I got a bottle of water.
Snacks: What did she buy?
Richard Jones: Best score of the night! $315!
Snacks: Good job man.
Richard Jones: She was a really nice lady.
Snacks: They are all nice. I bet she had a nice house too.
Richard Jones: YEAH! 3-car garage!
Snacks: Was the garage door open?
Richard Jones: No.
Snacks: Damn.
(at this point, I retrieved my gun and loaded it while sitting at my living room window)
The conversation went on about the police running Richard Jones out of 2 neighborhoods, that's why he was so far away from the pick-up point (a local convenience store). Snacks mentioned not getting caught in the bank hit.
I went online immediately. I googled Strictly Business 1 Inc and got "strickly" business... RED FLAG! Then, I found this blog... and logged onto my bank to cancel my check. The account will be cancelled today... It will be a long day calling all my auto-withdraw accounts to update my financial information, but I'm glad I learned this lesson before being taken for more money.
I hope Richard Jones and Snacks stay far, far away from my house for their own safety... Castle Domain. Google that one.
The same story, the nice lookie-talkie guy came and said he was rising money "forthepoorkids" in hospitals or something : "Could I buy the books for them or, at least, buy a sub? all the moneys will go to kids, anyway" (as he said). Now, as I can see it, I was stupid enough to give a $40 check (it was 60, but he said 40 is OK, lol)..So I'm received some "Taste of home" magazine 3 month ago I've never ordered and I'm wondering if any connections between the two events...
ReplyDeleteThank you for the article and useful info, I've learned my lesson.
Literature Sales, LLC is also a scam company, at least I'm led to believe so seeing as their e-mail address pinged back as Pubco and had the same address of:
ReplyDelete613
Franklin Square
Michigan City, IN 46360
Just a heads up, didn't see it on the current list
These individuals are currently working in southeast PA. Saying they are from Chicago and need to earn points. This time they are selling L&M Cleaning Solutions products instead of magazines.
ReplyDeletethank you so much for this post! i'm from the city so i'm used to this stuff, but it was really helpful for my family in the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteThis happened to me last night. I live in Las Vegas and I attend UNLV. When I was on my way out of class, I was approached by this young man, who looked liked he was in his 20's. He told me he was a Communications major at UNLV and was raising money for some contest to win a trip to Australia and 1,000 dollars for "Radio Equipment." I honestly didn't know he was selling something to me until he pulled out the famous laminated cards. In the end, I did gave him 70 dollars, because I'm 21 years old and naive. It's really not about the money; it's honestly about them spreading St. Jude's name around. I bought a "year of subscriptions" to promote reading to kids. But you live and you learn. Just wish I knew about this early.
ReplyDeleteAnyone hear of New Horizons? I'm in Charlotte NC and we've had them come by a few times.
ReplyDeleteI just had one of the "nicest" young A/A guys that almost got a check from me for $200.00. He wanted me to write the check to some female (his manager)but I told him no, that I would only write it out to his company "Opportunities, INC". I asked him to wait in the entry way (I felt safe, 'cause I always "carry" legally), I googled this site. I went back in and he was laying on the floor playing with our cat. I told him that I was very skeptical and could not give him any money. He left acting like he was very sad and disappointed. I called the notified the police, but he was gone quickly. Sure glad about this site, or I would have been out of $200.00, thinking I was helping this guy. He was working Alamogordo, NM, homes on the golf course.
ReplyDeleteThe ASCI Crew is in Beaumont Texas....Thursday afternoon, a young lady , who claimed to be a student from the high school softball team raising funds for a trip to Waikiki, showed up at my front door. Little did she know that I was a former teacher at the high school. It was a little after 1 oclock in the afternoon, which I found a little odd. She talked really fast and said her Dad had set up this program and the magazines were going to the Wounded Warriors, but the money they made would go to them (90%). That's a lot of profit. I never participated in any fundraiser that made 90%. That should have been the first red flag. She also claimed that she lived on the next street over and gave me a street address and her name. I later checked Facebook, and, it turns out , she has a Facebook page, and she did give me her real name , but she isn't from here ! Anyhow, other than the fundraising scheme, the story was basically the same as the others, with extremely high prices. I said I couldn't afford 120 dollars, so she said I could buy one, and she'd pick out the cheapest one. I thought , okay, but the one she picked was $44. Reluctantly I wrote a check, then thought better of it and asked for something written showing that the school was involved in this. She became Irate ! This is ridiculous ! I can't believe you're being this way ! You're the only person who's questioned me ! Here take back your check! I'll have my mother come talk to you ! And she stormed out the door ! I'm still waiting for her mother to come.....
ReplyDeleteThey were here in Phoenix tonight. Opportunity Sales out of Michigan City Indiana. I was leaving on my bike so he did not catch me at the door. "Maxwell" had a smooth pitch - former felon from East Oakland, trying to find the straight path. I know they are scams but he had this one down cold. No money from me though.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Tampa, Florida and this is my third time with these kids. This time it wasn't a kid, but a man, probably 30ish. I already knew about the scam and asked him some questions. The only mumbled the name of the company, initials only, and it was either PSI or DSI Communications. I asked where they were staying and how many were in each motel room. He said "Days Inn on 75 and 2 to a cell, I mean room" Yeaaaaah.
ReplyDeleteHe's a pretty big fellow, from some badlands place in New York, admitted that he was just trying to find something to do that wasn't selling drugs on the street. He'd been doing this for two weeks and was hoping to become a team leader after 90 days. (Oh, and this was for Communications Training)
He told me about almost getting killed back home, showed a bullet wound scar on his neck and chit chatted about how this neighborhood was hard to sell in. We're middle class - whatever that means these days.
I gave him a cigarette (bc he was smoking a butt from my ashtray outside) and something to drink. I told him I knew it was a scam (Oh, but not this company) and I said yes, your company, too. I asked about how much he gets paid and it's like.. 20$ a night and he needed 7 sales and had none that day. It was past 2pm.
I told him he needed to figure out how to get back home asap, and what happened if you wanted to. He said that if you stay the whole 90 days they send you home, if not, he had to call his people.
On the cards, really big are NO DONATIONS, NO DONATIONS, but he asked if there was anything I could do. I'm a bleeding heart. I knew he was most likely an ex-con and he was a LOT bigger than me, but I slipped him a 10$, anyway. Not so much to get rid of him but because I knew he was in a rough place. I probably should have told him to be straight up with everyone he met just so he could get home. -he still defended his company, though.
I do feel bad for him, he's from a bad neighborhood, probably saw this as a way to turn his life around and now he's stuck. At the same time, he now KNOWS he's scamming people. I wanted to talk with him more, but it was getting close to time for the girls to come home.
OH, and then after thanking me profusely he asked if there was a way for him to get in touch with me. (I had already told him my husband was napping because he worked nights - a lie, but whatever) I said I was married and uh, no.
Sigh. Hate these companies for what they do to everyone involved.
My husband and I just had a visit from two young black men last night a little after 8 pm. At first he rambled on about he and his friend being in college and are trying to get out of their student loan debt. He kept going until we asked what was he selling and that's when he finally said he was selling books to get "points " that would go toward his student loans. I was starting to feel really bad because it was late and they were so nice and my husband kept them outside. I felt like we were being rude because the guy asked to come in to show us the prices, but my husband would not allow it given that I'm 9 months pregnant and he was looking out to protect us.
ReplyDeleteWe noticed they would never give a straight answer when asked a question and kept telling us about our neighbors that had contributed. When my husband asked them to give him a contact so he can do some research first, the guy said there was none he could provide since they were always in different places. That was when we realized it was a scam and stated we could not contribute.
They said they were with MILLENIUM SALES. Please watch out for this company name and always research. It only took us a second after googleling this company to confirm the scam.
I live in Longwood, Fl and I had a young man come to my house yesterday. It was 5:34pm, I had both kids home from school and was cooking dinner waiting for my husband to get home. My 5yr old opened the door when the bell rang even as I was screaming not to. The young black man was there, gave me the spiel, showed me his list, etc, etc. This particular thief was from PS Circulation LLC. He began telling me he was a former gang member and did I believe in second chances. He even asked what I was cooking and could he come inside! I did NOT let him in, but I did something I never do and went against my gut feeling. I bought one magazine for $49. As soon as he was gone I regretted it. After finding this blog (and numerous others!) I spent a sleepless night convinced there would be a home invasion! We live at the bottom of a dark cul-de-sac and our house backs up to a golf course - nice and empty back there at night. Needless to say the alarm will ALWAYS be on now! I canceled payment on the check last night and called my bank this morning. They assured me that they cannot access any funds even though they have my routing number and account without my consent. It's a credit union and they are pretty diligent about security. Regardless, today I am buying a slide bolt for the door my daughter can't reach, a "No solicitors" sign AND putting my NRA sticker in the front window. The arrest list associated with this page has me so freaked out I may even start keeping a shot gun in the front hall closet. I also called my local PD today and let them know they are in the area and going door to door. There are a lot of kids and elderly in my neighborhood and this blog has me totally freaked out. The money loss is minimal - $29 cancel check fee - but like a previous poster I am kicking myself for being so naive and I do NOT like the feeling of not being safe in my own home. Today I am going to visit my other neighbor who I saw on the list and urge her to cancel her check as well. What a headache!
ReplyDeleteI had a guy approach me in the mall in Fairfax VA. Started as a fraternity member raising money for charity, I think.
ReplyDeleteVery persistent. When he got around to magazine subscriptions, I declined and he kept pushing, getting nastier and nastier. It devolved to him loudly calling me a nasty name in the middle of the mall. That was years ago, when I was a teenager, and I still flash to it when anyone tries to approach me in the mall.
Just had them in Las Vegas. Kid came around about 6:30pm. He was down my steps and around the corner when I went out and I didn't let him up the steps. Exact same lines everyone else is on here describing. I can't believe I gave this kid $55, my name, and number. I sort of feel like changing my phone number. At least I just gave him cash. The worst part is that I never answer my door. I'm usually so careful about stuff like this and then I read an article (in Oprah) saying that sometimes you have to trust people. Good lesson to learn.. again. So with that I guess I will consider it a $55 life lesson - pretty cheap if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteMy neighborhood in New Orleans must be marked as a good territory -- we have at least 5 or 6 a year. Today it was a young person from Jax FL trying to win scholarship points. First question I asked is does this involve any money. Answer: No, we get points based on our presentation and speaking skills. On and on, showed me some paper, I looked pretty closely, saw TOPS, then the rest of the pages were lists of books and mags. I asked are you selling books and magazines? Answer: no, those are donations to help me earn points. I said: earlier you said no money was involved -- you lied to me. Around and around, then finally I said: what's the cheapest thing that gets you the most point? Answer: someone stole my catalog, but I think it's the Jet magazine subscription. You can give me a deposit. Then I tried to find out how much a total would be for a given publication, including s&h. Given a price that sounded reasonable (I did remark that even if this was a scam, this person might go far in sales because of persistence and persuasion). When it came time to sign, the amounts were almost double, upon which I said: This is not what you said, what do all these numbers refer to? Answer: I'm new at this (after saying only 50 points left to get our of 10,000!)but I get triple points for cash. I finally said no, this is too far from what you said. I had given my name, address & cell phone, but didn't sign or give any financial info. The company with the pubs was Millenium in NJ. Should I take any steps now? I can't find this specific scam listed anywhere. Thanks for this site!
ReplyDeleteI don't answer my door, don't buy anything from a door-to-door salesman nor donate at the front door. Yet somehow, I answered the door, accepted the spiel, feeling queasy the whole time, and learned a $100-in-cash lesson in naive stupidity. Never again! Up goes the No Solicitors sign, and up goes my alert level to red whenever a stranger knocks on my door.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons this scam is so effective is that I believe in many cases the young people they have peddling the magazines are not only well-rehearsed in what to say and how to answer almost any question, but are themselves being scammed, and may not even realize that they're scamming you. What better way to run a scam than when the scammers don't even know they're scammers? This is, indeed, a form of human trafficking not far removed from forced prostitution.
What happened to me:
ReplyDelete1. It is February 15th, right after Valentines Day. As mentioned above, door to door scammers prey on sentimentality and usually come around during holidays.
2. A 5'3-5” young African American woman with a gap wearing a black sweatshirt and black pants tells me she is practicing her public speaking/doing a survey and if I will listen to her pitch.
3. I say yes and she tries to shake my hand to force me to come outside. When I hesitate to come outside she acts like I am racist or classist.
4. Starts the pitch, asks me how she's doing.
5. Shows me ratings and points from other neighbors, shows me names I do not recognize, but I don't say that I don't know any of them.
6. I ask how she earns points and she starts in on the magazine selling.
7. She says if she earns enough points she can start her business of helping inner-city girls realize their potential and asks if this is something I would support. Obviously I say yes.
8. Printed presentation is unprofessional, laminated but bent up. Magazines only have points next to them and no prices are listed.
9. Asks me personal questions like my name, age, and occupation. If there are kids in the house and am I the oldest. I presumed because some of the packages were for kids, but now I feel weird about it.
10.She asked and I gave her info like that I am only visiting from college etc.
11. She asks to borrow my phone, a stalling technique to look in the house, thankfully it was right by the door so I handed it to her quickly. Also it was dark in the house and I don't think there was much of value for her to see. Door was half closed. She calls her “boss” and they agree to meet at Circle K.
12. I told her I don't have money and see you later. She said “I'm glad you said that because you never know!” Is she coming back?
I feel very stupid and am worried about the safety of my family due to my naivety.
I found this site too late... I gave the young black kid with a sob story a check for $120 on Friday. I already called the number on the receipt to cancel the order and will be faxing the cancellation notice at 8am when I get to work. Also calling the bank at 7am to put a stop payment on the check... I feel like such a fool. Here's the company info on the receipt:
ReplyDeleteOpportunity Sales, Inc.
P.O. Box 8807
Michigan City, Indiana, 46361
This just happened to me in Emeryville, California. Two young girls around 19 rang my door and gave me this spiel about them needing to go door to door to practice public speaking, then they told me they were trying getting points by talking to people to win a trip to Italy. They were the winning the contest thus far and needed only 700 or so points to win (they needed 20,000). They mentioned a neighbors name, but I live in a complex and I am not familiar with that many neighbors. They even said they'd been on every floor and this is the last floor (I'm on the first floor).
ReplyDeleteI asked if they just needed signature and my boyfriend got up they asked what we did. I mentioned I was a student, he said he was a manager and they said they'd get extra points. Red flags started there. They asked if they could come in and use my table to write on, I agreed, they seemed harmless enough. Then they started talking magazines, I asked SEVERAL times how much they cost, they kept saying it depends and said around 1.50 each magazine, and that I only needed to buy one magazine and I could cancel. I grabbed $10 cash and chose a few magazines, the more aggressive girl didn't want my cash, she wanted a check. I did not feel comfortable handing over a check to these two. The girl said if I had a cute design on my check she'd get extra points for creativity. Then they wrote some invoice and said I owed $60 something, then it went down to $59. I told them I couldn't afford it, they tried pushing saying other students have given them checks and that you can just cancel the check they'd still get points for a cancelled check. This rose suspicion. They said that the company wouldn't cash the check for another 3 weeks and I could cancel before that. I said no I don't feel comfortable. She encouraged me to write a check then cancel, I said it costs to cancel, she said no it doesn't (hello-I know my bank fees). They showed me some lame receipt that said I can cancel. I felt uncomfortable. I said what can I get for $10, one girl didn't want the cash, the other said they could donate it to childrens book at a childrens hospital. My boyfriend and I agreeded that they seemed from out of town
OH ALSO they had the wrong address when writing my receipt I told her this (I found it odd that no one corrected her mistake, when she had been on all floors of my apartment building), she had the WRONG street number on the address, wrong zip code and biggest red flag, wrong city. She wrote BERKELEY. This is Emeryville, albeit close to Berkeley but locals now the difference. One girl had on an OC sweater (Orange County). The aggressor though clean cut, had very large tattoos on her leg and on her ring finger.
They were very confident, talked fast and sly. I'm so glad all they got was $10 cash. I found this website within minutes after saying goodbye, peeked my head outside saw them outside a neighbors house and called the police!!!
CRAZY!!!
One came today to my house in Eugene, Oregon. A Young A/A man dressed very nice (white shirt/tie) said he was an ex-con from a crappy neighborhood outside Atlanta, was trying to become a "motivational speaker." Stuff about earning points toward his education, or some program -- it was never very clear. He started out by asking me questions, said he wasn't selling anything, just would earn points -- struck me as a really odd program. He asked me about my first job and what motivated me to succeed then and today. I really wanted to say none of your business, but we're so trained to be polite to strangers, it's hard to be blunt. He had the same "adopt me" line shared above by another poster. He also had a sheet of paper with signatures "of my neighbors" and "ratings" of how wonderful he was in working toward his goal. I wanted to sign and send him on his way, but he stopped me to pitch me magazines. He had a worn sell sheet, but there were no prices on the magazines pictured. The prices were hand-written on his mimeographed cover sheet: 3 mags for $80! WOW. I get a lot of mags, and that is ridiculous. He said I could donate the money, or the magazines, to charity. It was so vague, I knew it was a rip-off. The company was Unity something or other. I told him no, and thank goodness he accepted it. (He could probably tell I was skeptical.) Then I came here and found this blog. I should have told him the sheriff lives across the street (he does) -- and I will definitely point that out next time, if they come again. I also alerted my homeowners association via email.
ReplyDeleteI am in Salem, VA. I just had this guy come to my door with some sob story. he was selling magazines to get points to help pay for college. he said he had scoliosis and was a military brat whose father was verbally abusive and manipulative. I almost bought a magazine form. Not because I feel sorry for him but because I really wanted the magazine. I went inside to get my checkbook and my iPhone just happen to be sitting next to it, so I google the company and got this website.I then went back to the door and told him I just googled his company and everyone said it was a scam. he got pissed off told me that karma's a b**** and wanted to argue with me. when he finally did leave he just cussed at me under his breath as he walked away.
ReplyDeleteI have been scammed before. Thank God I have a good radar now. I hate to say it but don't trust anyone comes to your door.
Yesterday Nicole came to our door selling magazines for a youth charity and needed to talk to people for public speaking and to earn points to go on a trip to Italy. She was very chatty and tried to be very friendly. I remember at the time she seemed to be very scripted and inserted little jokes in wierd places of the conversation. (I used to sell encyclopedias door to door and hated the people I worked with, real sleezebags!) Anyway we bought one magazine and then Nicole asked to borrow my 91 yr. old mother's umbrella because it was raining like crazy and her "contest was over at 5:00 p.m." I am sure that is when her team was going to pick her up. Nicole Erwin? said she would bring it back after 5:00 p.m. My mother trusted her and she left and marked the door with a sticker and we never saw her again. I tried to stop payment on the check, but it was after hours and the posting had started already and I don't know if it worked or not. Do not let these people in your house and never buy anything without checking them out on the internet first. I have Legal Shield, partnered with Kroll Investigative services, the largest investigative company in the world. Reply to this and I can tell you more.
ReplyDeleteOK, I am embarrassed to say that I just fell for a young man's plea for help in getting himself out of East Chicago by selling magazine subscriptions. I paid with a check to Entrepreneurs Sales out of Michigan City, Indiana. I am usually more savvy. Anyone know about this supposed company? Should I cancel my check? I did not order a magazine subscription, just gave a donation to the company.
ReplyDeleteI just wrote a response to someone else who got scammed in the same way by this business. I live North of Chicago and had the same experience at the end of August, 2013. I can't tell if this company is one outfit from Michigan City, IN or just a bunch of them from anywhere, but there seem to be lots of incidents surrounding these businesses with the Michigan City address. I called the cops there a couple of days ago and they seemed clueless; however, I checked the BBB site and saw over 200 complaints filed with them since they opened in 2010. Why hasn't anyone in law enforcement wiped these people out? They are scourge. I'll post any results that come my way.
DeleteI had a pair of young men come to my door in Springfield, OR (near the University of Oregon). I called the police, who were very helpful and informed me a permit was required in our city. Our police department publishes a detailed police log daily, and it turned out one of the sales people is only 16 and from a town about an hour away. I didn't buy anything but one of them tried to stick his arm between the door as I was closing it to stop the door from shutting, which is why I called the police. Here is a link to the police log, scroll down to Page 20. http://www.springfield-or.gov/Police/logs/tuesday.pdf
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteJust found this website while I was trying to figure out what just happened to me and my family. I live in northwestern Pennsylvania and just about an hour ago, this young lady with tattoos came to my door claiming that she needed to get practice with public speaking so that she could get more points. She did not want the points for money for college, but so she could start a cupcake business. She was a young female and told us that she used to be a Mennonite and was married at 14, so she has 3 kids to care for. She told us all kinds of stories about all the money she spends on her daughters beauty pageants. She eventually asked us for a drink and my dad being so kind, gave her one. With that, she sort of forced her way into the house and sat down at the table. My father gave her the time and she started having us look over a list of NFL/NCAA/NHL jerseys and magazines. She stated she wouldn't give us the prices until we told her what we wanted. My father eventually told her that he was not interested, to which she replied "I do not care if you are interested, I just want you to buy this from me so that I can finish up for the night." She was very personable at first, but then turned sort of angry. She then yelled at my father for not buying something, started crying and asked him why he would look over her stuff and invite her in without buying anything. She ran out the front door and cried all the way out. What are we supposed to do about things like this? I called my local police but I'm not really sure what they did to help.
Thank you for this blog. I was visited today by a man stating he was from St. Louis (I am in MA), and he was trying to turn his life around. He told me his life story (had been shot, been in jail, has a 2-year old), and that he was doing this job to better himself and learn how to survive in the working world. I had agreed to a "6-pack", which would be donated to the Children's Hospital. When he wrote up the receipt, I almost choked at the total - $365! I told him I needed to go inside to get the check (which is when he asked for the water), and I came in and immediately googled his company. After I read your article, I returned to the door and told him that I had just read that his company was a scam, and I would not be writing a check. He became extremely belligerent, and left in a huff. Thank you so much for saving me from being scammed!!
ReplyDeleteThey are in New Jersey now in Pemberton Township. Came to my door, 25 year old by the name on his sheet Jacques I Harris, TX drivers license. Says he is from outside houston and goes through the whole song and dance. I told him i am not buying anything until i look up the company but come back later. Walked in the house googled Millennium Sales Inc TOPS organization, saw nothing but scam reports, called the police. Pemberton Township PD has all his information and is on the look out. The officer told me there are 8 in the area, and after Jacquez walked away from me i saw a dark green 12 passenger van drive up the road from where he left. Be safe out there folks and dont fall victim to their crime. You need a permit to solicit in Jersey and they dont have it. I printed out some blogs from here and gave it to the kid saying i think it is great he s trying to make a better situation for himself but working for a scam company and doing illegal activities is not the way to go.
ReplyDeleteI was just ripped off by this scam and left with a banking nightmare. A van dropped off several inner city young adult men in my neighborhood. I answered the door and immediately the guy started telling racial laden jokes about himself (he was African American). He was selling Advanage (not Advantage) Cleaner from International Sales, Inc. He told me that my neighbors had bought a bottle and had paid $260 (yeah, right, not in my neighborhood). Because he claimed to be working for money for his education, I wanted to help him out. I bought a bottle for $40 and I mistakenly gave him a check. As he wrote the receipt he told me that if there was fraudulent activity on my bank account, I should phone the number on the back. This caused me to feel uneasy. He was a big guy and sort of pushy and I am a small woman and I was at home by myself in a rural area, so I didn't feel comfortable demanding my check back. After he left I looked at the printing on the back of the receipt and it was riddled with spelling areas (this is from the company, not from the sales guy). Sure enough, two weeks later, the bank calls to tell me that someone in Maryland (the sales guy had told me he was from Maryland. I live in Oregon) was attempting to change the account numbers on my savings and checking accounts, claiming to be me. The bank rep. felt someone was using a routing number from a recent check I had written. Since I rarely write checks, I knew what had happened. What a pain to change all of my bank accounts, contact Credit Bureaus, etc... because of this identity theft, which came about as a result of me wanting to help someone out by buying one bottle of cleaner. Beware of this scam--it can cost you your life's savings.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed these folks can find enough folks to fork over cash these days. Thankfully the Internet ensures it is harder for scammers to take advantage of consumer ignorance.
ReplyDeleteAnd yup, my family just got a visit from one of these friendly folks. We kept him on our porch but did give him a glass of lemonade. Had a nice talk but sent him on his way.
Frankly, I should have asked him for his solicitor's permit and identification to check if there were any outstanding warrants on him. Oh well, I guess we just wanted to keep everything pleasant.
Sugar Grove, Illinois ... same story here. 39 year old man from the "west side of Chicago" trying to clean up his act. Said he was formerly on the streets selling drugs and in various trouble. Trying to earn points selling magazines. Average subscription nets around 10 points and he needs 20,000 points to earn $1,000. Do that math. You can earn more working minimum wage! I listened to his sob story and gave him some pointers for a better life. Didn't buy anything. The whole thing seemed fishy. He moved on but I felt stupid for even giving him the time of day. Guilt talking to a black man in a white neighborhood. Don't fall for it.
ReplyDeleteThey're here in Columbus, Ohio today under the name Millennium Sales Inc. Same song & dance, and he even wore a bow tie! The phone number went to voicemail, but said not leave voicemails because customer service does not answer messages. I am mad at myself for buying anything at all, but hopefully it takes us off the list to "hit." Needless to say, I will be cancelling the order and am glad it was only cash and not check/credit card!
ReplyDeleteThis group is currently working South Jordan, Utah.
ReplyDeleteOpportunity
PO Box 8807
Michigan City, Indiana 46361
219 809 9165
Just realized they took me four $400. Same thing points system for
college. Trying to better himself and all that.
Check cleared my account first thing the next morning.
Bummer....
Magazines salesman by the name of "Pierre Skinner" age "26" roaming around Orem, Utah yesterday. Through a company called "Opportunity" out of Michigan. I spoke to him in the street, did not buy anything. Nice manners, southern accent. Said he was trying to get out of the inner city and get a scholarship to college. Then later he said he was from a small town in North Carolina and how they don't have good role models there and are looking to "emulate you good people here". Uh, what? Most people on the street had not let him in, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteI was just visited in Northern CA by a girl selling magazines. She was pretty and quite the talker. Obviously, something was not right about her pitch so I Googled and wound up here.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great resource for other people doing research on these scams.
Well, they came to my door last night and got me. This poor kid was rambling on and on about how he was trying to go to college. He told me at one point that he was finally out of "debt" with the owner, (WHAT??) I guess they get room and board and don't get paid until they go over that amount. I did end up writing a check, but I knew in my gut something was not right when he told me to make the check out to Robert Jackson instead of the company name (Opportunity sales). After the guy left, I immediately did a search and saw all the complaints, this blog and the F rating on BBB. I immediately called my bad to freeze my account and cancel the check. I will be going to the bank when they open today to get a new account number. I feel like a complete idiot, because the longer this guy talked the more convinced I was that it was not legit, and yet I still felt so bad for this kid that I gave him a check anyway. I feel worse for these kids than I do for myself.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had found this site earlier. But these two guys started talking to me outside my apartment building. They said they were working for Explorer Communications. They gave the story about being students and trying to win a trip to Italy. They said they needed the money right then or they wouldn't get the points. They talked me into getting four magazines. After I got into my apartment something just didn't sit right with me. I went on the website for explorercomm and the customer page didn't work. I sent an email to the contact email address. Basically I'm a college student who doesn't have much money but thought I was helping out some other college students. But I know I don't even have to wait to see if I get my money back or receive the magazines to know I got scammed. Now I know though. Just glad they only got cash and not bank information. They wrote down the wrong city on my receipt so that really let me know that I got scammed. But lesson learned. It's a shame you can't be nice and try to help people out without being taken advantage of.
ReplyDeleteA young very pregnant woman came to my door yesterday selling subscriptions. I believed her story and wanted to help her. I did not want to write a check or order any magazines. I tried to offer her a cash donation but she said she was not allowed to accept it. She said she was staying in a hotel. I asked her where she would be when she gave birth. She seemed like she was in a desperate position. she said she was going to try to go back to Michigan and stay with her sister when her baby was born. I gave her my phone number and name for her to call and I would send her a box of baby clothes. She willing took my number but not my cash. I am now wondering about the wisdom in giving a stranger my phone number. Did I just put myself at risk for anything?
ReplyDeleteI got hit by one of these this summer in Cleveland, OH and they went under the name "Lincoln Publications" in Gilbert AZ. If you search for the address they gave me nothing comes up for any such company except for an "F" rating through BBB (I couldn't even find a phone number anywhere). I stopped payment on my check as soon as they left and I searched and found all this stuff. They gave the same typical spiel that everyone states here. I sent in the cancellation slip after I stopped my check but just started receiving the magazine regardless. I hope they will not send me to collections even though I did everything I needed to. I'm hoping not though since they seem totally bogus. I definitely learned my lesson.
ReplyDeleteGot just solicited by someone from "Inner City Sales", the sales pitch started with "this is not a sales, I am not selling anything..." and tried to be interactive "guess what my GED was last year?". I just don't believe in anything that needs people to go door to door to sell, unless it is a local service of some sort. Just said, I am not interested. She was very insistent and said she would come back tomorrow. I said "your time is better spent at some other house" politely and closed the door. Glad my instincts worked this time around.
ReplyDeleteLiterature Sales, LLC should be added to the list...Interesting they are one of the "businesses in the same building" at 613 Franklin "Street" in Michigan City, IN 46360. I wrote a check for $35.95, falling for the same "Help me out of a bad environment, and my mama is trying to recover from the hurricane in Louisiana" sob story. I DID call the telephone number & was told it would take months to process the subscription. It's been NINE MONTHS and I haven't received the first magazine. I am calling Better Business, the Federal Trades Commission, my State Attorney's office, and the State Attorney in Indiana. I hope that everyone else who has been scammed with do the same!
ReplyDeleteThink i was just taken too. Young guy came up to my door talking about points and selling magazines. I knew it was a bad idea and have no clue why I wrote him a $135 check. After he left i googled the "Entrepreneurs Sales", no surprise what I found. I stopped payment on check immediately and called the number on the back of the receipt. Now the task of sending certified letters and going to the bank!
ReplyDeleteCoastal Subscriptions Agency LLC should be added too. Just found spelling errors on their return policy on the carbon receipt I was given after ordering 2 magazines and realized the kid wrote down the wrong magazine name for one of my orders, in fact the name he wrote wasn't on the list at all in hindsight so that's an automatic flag that this is a scam. Unfortunately I didn't look that close until he was gone and he used half the right name so it seemed correct when he was filling everything out. What really caught me after he left was it hit me that he knew my mailbox number from down the street and I never told it to him, he just added it himself to the order so it's like he had been watching me. I had just gone to the mailbox and then he showed up within minutes of getting home. I was a little tipsy from celebrating the holidays so I wasn't thinking to clearly or I normally wouldn't have answered door. When he left, it all hit me how off it all seemed, so I looked up his company on the web, found this site, and realized he did everything this article warned me about to a tee. I just cancelled my checking account. No way I want my bank info going out to a known scam operation. Great social engineering on his part though. He played my desire to help like an Xbox. This happened in Peoria Arizona on 11-30-2013 at about 8 PM.
ReplyDeleteThis happened to me last year when 2 young girls were selling magazines. I wrote them a check and then got a bill (for the remainder of the subscription). I cancelled and they sent me a cancellation, but no refund on the original check. When a guy came to my door today selling mags for a trip to Italy, I told him it was a scam. He said "No, it's not really" and then walked away. Total scam!
ReplyDelete2 college age girls came to our home one evening in Jan of 2012 and my husband gave them
ReplyDeletea check for $100-! They said they were from Team Extreme and were collecting $$ for buying children's books for
our local
Children's hospital! I had an uneasy feeling about them. One was quite a smooth talker. 2 days later
I got an email from the head of our Neighborhood Watch that this was a scam.
So we got scammed! My husband was able to put a stop payment on the check.
These girls said they were our new neighbors & that they had just moved into a new house
down the street. turned out to be a total lie.
sad to me that such young girls are out scamming people.
the one that did the talking was Nicole and she seemed way too smooth to me.
the other girl must have been in training to be a scammer as she looked
worried and didn't say much. the whole thing makes me sick.
So then last night a young black man came to the door about 6:15 p m. I only opened the 'speakeasy' on my door because
I was home alone and my dogs were barking. He was a charming fast-talker and I didn't like how he tried to engage me,
asked me my name and how was I able to become "so successful" in life because our home was "quite an accomplishment".
He was claiming to be working in some kind vocational rehab. type of program. Earning his way out of poverty or something.
By selling magazine subscriptions he would earn points. He said something about "HBO" and I said " excuse me - HBO?" and
then he made a joke and said "yeah--help a brother out". I stopped him right there and said how over a year ago we had been
scammed by some girls selling magazines & thus we now have a policy about not giving money or checks at the door. I said do you
have a flyer or any info you can leave with me? He said he did not and so I said ok thanks you better leave now then I can't help you.
So then he did leave. I had an uneasy feeling about him.
I think I got scammed last night! A young caucasian woman and man (Alisha and Robert I think) knocked on my door last night, and asked for my "vote", when I asked them if they lived in my apartment complex they said no, we live in Virginia Beach (the next city over) and we are trying to win a trip to New Zealand. (My apartment complex has weird competitions that they give out prizes for, the last one was for decorating their apartment/porch for the holidays to win prizes). They had an answer for everything! They were in this city because they cannot get votes from their own friends and family in Virginia Beach. I asked them so what do you mean by "vote" and they pulled out a list of magazines. I do read magazines and still had a stack on my end table next to the door, which I pointed out to them. I told them I still haven't had time to read the ones I already had, and they proceeded with the "please help us in any way you can, donate them to charities or as a gift for someone else". They were pushy and persuasive somehow I ended up giving them $54 cash for a subscription. After getting the receipt back I did some research online and discovered this site among others - I was scammed! I had paid for a subscription about 10 years back and received it in the mail but the story with this couple matches many of the ones shared on this blog, I don't think I will ever get my subscription. A $54 lesson learned, and now I am not going to answer the door anymore. It could have been worse as some of you have shared, they didn't steal anything (that I know of!) or ask to use the bathroom/phone to gain access to other rooms. The only things in site were my laptop (which I was using when they knocked on my door) and my cell phone which are still present. I feel like such a sucker! They seemed nice at the time, I let them in to use my counter to write on! Now after reading this blog I realized they may have been casing out my apartment to see if I had any valuables/roommates etc. I live alone and maybe they could have figured that out when they came in, I feel so violated and unsafe now! I will be looking over my shoulder before opening my door and more careful about my surroundings. I am just glad I gave cash because if I wrote a check they could do more harm with my account information. I reported it to the local news team so that they will alert the community. I do feel embarrassed/ashamed but I guess it was just money :( and I work hard for my money so I had a knot in my stomach since last night, but it could have been worse, I put my safety in danger and I had that anxious feeling in my stomach when I was trying to turn them down, I just wanted them out of my apartment! Stupid mistake letting them in! I only answered the door because I heard a couple laughing and I thought it was my neighbors across the hall, and through the peephole I couldn't tell for certain if it was my neighbors or not. People in the Norfolk VA area keep a look out for them! (I am in Chesapeake) Thanks for reading and letting me vent! Be safe everyone :)
ReplyDeleteDo these people ever come back? Is my house safe? I cancelled my bank account but now I'm nervous they will try to come back.
ReplyDeleteCertified-Management.net Young man just came to my door with all the usual sales pitches. I was taken a year ago for $135.00 and told him absolutely not. I wouldn't listen to anything he said and told him "good-bye".
ReplyDeleteI got scammed by Entrepreneurs Sales also from Michigan City, IN--hmmm. I live North of Chicago. Now Opportunity shows up with a Michigan City mail box. The other guys had a street address. I called the cops there and the officer that I spoke to was totally unaware of the scammer(s). I wonder if any law enforcement agency is doing anything to eradicate these parasites. I'd be glad to help by giving information. I really want to see these crooks wiped out.
ReplyDelete"EVERYTHING THIS BLOG HAS MENTIONED IS VERY ACCURATE AND TRUE"
ReplyDeleteI WAS TARGETED, RECRUITED AT THE AGE OF 18 WITH THE COMPANY AMERICAN COMMUNITY SERVICES -OMNI HORIZONS (OWNERS AND BROTHERS, LEVAN PAUL ELLIS AND RICKY ALBERT ELLIS- MICHIGAN CITY, IN.) I WAS TAKEN TO A HOTEL AND TRAINED TO SELL MAGAZINES DOOR TO DOOR ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. WITH IN THREE DAYS OF MY ARRIVAL, I WAS VICTIMNIZED, SEXUAL ASSULTED, BEATEN AND RAPED BY A MAN NAMED "RICHARD FRANK ROBERSON" A CONVICTED VIOLENT REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER AND CHILD MOLESTER, A REPEATED OFFENDER WITH MANY WARRENTS OUT FOR
HIS ARREST, WHO OTHER CREW MEMBERS HAD WITNESS AND OPENLY SPOKE ABOUT "RICHARD" VICTIMIZING, BEATING AND SEXAUL ASSULTING OTHER YOUNG WOMEN THAT WERE RECRUITED ON THE JOB! I WAS THEN HELD AGAINST MY WILL, WHEN ASK TO LEAVE! THEN I WAS DRAGGED ON MY BACK (KICKING AND SCREAMING) BY "RICHARD" WHO TOSS ME IN THE BACK OF THE VAN BEAT ME SOMEORE GIVING ME TWO BLACK EYES. "RICHARD HAD ABDUCTED ME. WHEN I WOKE UP I WAS IN ANOTHER STATE. STILL BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL. FORCED TO SELL MAGAZINE WHILE CONTINUED TO BE BEATING AND RAPED BY "RICHARD FRANK ROBERSON" THE OWNERS OF THIS COMPANY WAS FULLY AWARE OF THIS AND ALLOWED IT TO GO ON BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL ABOUT MAKING MONEY-PERIOD!!!