I Almost Got Majorly Scammed Last Week
You know those public service announcements that remind elderly people how not to get scammed? Well, what about us poor middle-aged folks? I almost got majorly scammed last week.
Here’s my sorry tale: Every evening when I arrive home from work, I’m always in a hurry to change my clothes and get the dogs out the door because they have been waiting since 8 a.m. to go out. Last Thursday was no different, except for one thing. I left the front door to the house unlocked because I knew I’d be right down again in a few minutes. I almost never do that. So when I’m ready to go back downstairs with the pups a guy was standing in the hallway. He was a tall well-dressed young guy. I asked him what was up and he launched into a halting, memorized spiel about how he is from the inner city and he is doing the right thing by working his way up and would I like to buy a magazine subscription. I was distracted by the dogs and their needs and I said, why don’t you follow me downstairs and we can continue to chat on the sidewalk. So we are out on the sidewalk and the guy continues his talk, oblivious to the fact that the dogs had not yet reached a patch of grass suitable for their leavings. So I have two anxious dogs on leashes. The guy talked about self-esteem and how he’s doing the right thing. He even asked for advice about how he could do better in life. OK, so I thought right off that this could be a scam. But then he starts going through his clipboard and shows me the subscriptions on offer. He had People magazine, and he offered a great price for a year’s sub — $80! I love People magazine, and getting a bargain. I agreed to take a year’s subscription. I peeled myself away from the insistent guy and said, OK, when I finish walking the dogs in 45 minutes, meet me back here.
I walked the pups, took them inside and immediately Googled the name I saw on the guy’s clipboard: “Destiny Sales.” Instantly, I found several sites that considered these guys scammers. And the script they quoted sounded just like my guy. It had been way more than 45 minutes and the guy hadn’t reappeared, so I figured I was in the clear. I went out for the evening to a party.
I get back a few hours later and my housemate lets me know that the guy not only came back to the house but rang the doorbell about 50 times and threw stuff at our windows to get her attention. She didn’t answer the doorbell (smart move!) and was basically a prisoner in the house until the guy left.
Anyway, that’s the story.
The Better Business Bureau warns against a nationwide door-to-door magazine sales scam this summer. I live in Jamaica Plain, Mass. Anyone else have experience with these scammers in your part of the world?
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:57 am
I got scammed like this about 15 years ago when I lived in Chicago, except it was candy and not magazines. Thanks for the warning!
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
The magazine sales scam is one of the oldest and continually-operating ones in the country. The one that operates in this region has been around literally for decades. You would think the feds or somebody would have shut them down a long time ago.
I got taken by an “honest girl working her way through college by selling magazines” about a dozen years ago. She was insanely persistent, and even though I knew I was probably being scammed as it was happening, it was worth giving her $50 just to get rid of her.
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Also worth pointing out: many of the people going door to door are practically prisoners of the people who run the scam. They are sucked in by the promise of a “summer job” and then find themselves trapped and often abused by the people who transport them from town to town:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/02/kids_magazine_sales.html
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Brian, I hadn’t thought of that. A bribe just to LEAVE!@!
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Geez, if someone was throwing rocks at your house, shouldn’t the police have been called?
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Oh My God, I just heard on the news this morning that these same guys are up in NH, Maine and thereabouts and that they are warning people against them. Typical. Hard economic times seems to historically bring out the worst in people. Now that is a great idea for your blog….old scams die hard! Glad you didn’t get taken Rhea.
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I’ve done this a couple of times, and I have always received the magazines. I think the bigger issue is that the employers are dirtbags who lure the door to door kids with promises of all night parties and drugs. The kids put on ties and tell an uplifting story, adn you want to believe, but really they’re just wasting their life away making money for the crew chief and his bosses.
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Sharon, it’s on the news? I wish I had heard it before this dude showed up. The experience was kind of disturbing, especially the rocks on the windows.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
UGH! Sounds like a scene from a movie!
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:27 pm
That guy sounds like a creeper! Why didn’t your roommate call the police?
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Well, I had warned her that this dude might show up so she was not totally unprepared. I guess she wanted to see how it would play out.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Thanks for the warning. Although our house isn’t readily accessible for that type of scam. In this neighborhood there’s about 1/2 mile between each door.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
So, Janet, you’ve already thwarted any door-to-door schemes.
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
You were lucky to escape him.
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
We had a ton of those guys come by in Seattle. Fortunately the Buffledog was a GREAT deterrent – bless his deep and throaty bark! We just said “no” to everyone (legit or not), but it was never clear who was legit or not. I suppose I’ve become one of those really grumpy guys that the solicitors either love as a challenge or loathe. Either way the answer is always “NO!”
At least out here in the nether regions of the Hill Country the houses are so far apart they don’t even bother.
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:13 am
You mean a man walks into your house and you don’t call the cops?
June 3rd, 2009 at 6:20 am
Like Jay, I’ve done this before and gotten the magazines. I am sure I paid too much, but it was not a whole lot of money.
These days, magazines are *giving away* subscriptions, and in the small town where I now live, the only kids who come to my door are the local high school kids fundraising for various stuff.
I do remember how persuasive that last magazine kid was. I hope he moved on to better things, because he had talent.
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:35 am
Scary story, Rhea. I’m glad you thought quick to get him out of the house. When I’m in the New York subways, I hate it when “homeless” people launch into their sob stories to a captive audience; don’t get me wrong, I shell out whatever I have give to homeless people up and down the streets and avenues. But it’s the captive audience part that is frankly quite terrifying (not to mention unacceptably rude, although if you’re homeless I know you can’t be held accountable for the rude part, for God’s sake.) I just think it’s awful that someone would do that in your own home! I’m really, really glad you (and your housemates) all right.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 am
Wow. This could have been worse. You were smart to talk him outside where you were more visible (not to mention able to handle the poor dogs!). I rarely answer the door if it’s someone I don’t know, even though I live in a “safe” neighborhood–which could be less safe because people are so trusting. He sounds desperate. I hope he’s OK.
June 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 am
We don’t live anywhere near an ‘inner city’ area. Instead, someone is sending around kids whose appeal sounds very much like the one you got. They are trying to earn a dream vacation and tuition to college. I guess they figure that people here are less likely to turn down enterprising youngsters. We have had three come by in the last two weeks.
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:35 am
A girl came by my house in the Cleveland suburbs last summer with the same spiel. I bought magazines and received them. The problem is with the ‘bosses’. I felt sorry for the girl because she had been dropped off in our neighborhood and had been pestered by the cops and had no way of leaving until her bosses came back for her!
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Last Summer I met a young man from the inner city of Cincinatti who came to my door selling mags. It was a 90 plus degree day mind you. We sat and chatted over a nice cold bottle of iced tea and I bought some magazines from him. I din’t know for sure if I would ever see them but I figured what the hell. Sure enough I got the magazines as promised. He was turned away by most people in the neighborhood. I also thought who would be out going door to door in such heat, not a scammer for sure.
June 3rd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
[...] Boomer Chronicles: I Almost Got Majorly Scammed Last Week. Wow, a scary story of some door to door magazine salespeople who try to sell subscriptions to [...]
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I just had two young men come to the door and claim they were working there way to culinary school in Paris. They said that most people aren’t interested in receiving magazine anymore so they are offering to mail the subscriptions to the soldiers in Iraq. Being a sucker for the soldiers as I am they reeled me in and I bought a subsricption to Elle for a “woman soldier” for 49.00. I immediately googled the company name after they left “Destiny” and found out about the scam. Stopped payment on my check immediately and it cost me 29.00. I won’t be duped again! I live near San Francisco in California. I will let you know if they are stupid enough to come back and harass me about the stop payment.
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:06 am
[...] How I Almost Got Majorly Scammed [...]