Fraudulent Magazine Subscription
Sales Scams
Some telemarketers falsely represent that they are calling on
behalf of the publisher to renew the subscription of a magazine
you currently receive and then never deliver the magazines or misrepresent
the total cost by emphasizing "only pennies per day".
You may end up with multi-year subscriptions totaling hundreds
of dollars. If contacted, ask for a written copy of the contract
to peruse so that you can calculate out whether it's a good deal
or not.
It's Probably Lost In The Mail
Publishers Services repeatedly collected money for magazine subscriptions
it failed to deliver or had no authority to sell.
Busted, the telemarketer must now either provide the magazines
or give refunds to approximately 48,000 consumers nationwide who
purchased subscriptions over a two year period. The restitution
the company will provide is estimated at between $500,000 and $1
million. Civil penalties, attorney fees and costs will be considered
in a separate proceeding.
As It's Hard to Write While Laughing
You get a postcard from the National Scholastic Society, Inc.,
doing business as University Society Publishers Periodicals urging
you to call a toll-free number to be entered into a $25,000 cash
sweepstakes.
When you call, you are told you will be entered just for calling.
They then pitch magazine subscriptions and say you will receive
an expensive-sounding gift if you agree to purchase a subscription.
Through a variety of ruses you are tricked into revealing your
credit card numbers and are then billed for hundreds of dollars
even though you did not agree to subscribe.
One trick is to tell you that "you will win bonus prizes
if certain numbers appear on your credit card, all you have to
do is "read it out slowly"." Once they have
your credit card numbers, they can charge you any unauthorized
sum they want. Your losses are added to the millions of dollars
they have collected.
Elderly Victims Won Right to be Scammed
05/07 - (Atlanta-Journal Constitution) - Eleven people have pleaded
guilty to racketeering charges for their part in a DeKalb-based
telemarketing scheme which defrauded elderly victims.
Authorities said the defendants worked for Capricorn Marketing
LLC. The company's employees from 2001 to 2004 called more than
10,000 elderly people and falsely told them they had won or were
a finalist for a $50,000 giveaway, according to a statement from
District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming's office.
The victims were asked for bank information so the "prize" could
be deposited. Instead, the company then called the victims a second
time and "confirmed" they had ordered expensive magazine
subscriptions, which the telemarketers then deducted from the victim's
bank accounts.
The Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs raided the company
in February 2004. All the defendants pleaded guilty by the scheduled
start of their trial Monday. DeKalb Superior Court Judge Daniel
Coursey sentenced five to prison.
The longest sentence of 10 years was given to company owner Gary
Richardson.
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