Second-to-None - MaryCarol Roach Second-to-None - Suspicious Non-Profit Selling Magazines Longview Texas

I think I may have fallen for this last year, but not again this year...

DON'T FALL FOR SECOND-TO-NONE'S "PHILANTHROPY"
Young adults/teens go door-to-door claiming to have come from an inner-city far from the area you live in to work their way up from the hard life they have had by selling magazine subscriptions. I was approached by a young man last year w/ the same pitch. After being approached again this year, I took more time to look through the materials I was left with. After several red flags and inconsistencies (gut instinct too), I canceled my check.

WHY DO I THINK THIS IS FRAUDULENT?
-Zip code of P.O. Box on the triplicate form and the web site don't match up (75608 vs. 75604) - though that could just be a matter of not having updated either (both seem to be zip codes for an address in Longview, TX)

-Web site looks "canned" and unprofessional. Nowhere can you find an actual street address...only a P.O. Box

-Web site URL is registered to an individual by the name of MaryCarol Roach at an apartment address in Gainesville, FL (you can lookup the registration info here at www.whois.net) - NOT the name of the supposed non-profit organization in Longview, TX

-E-mail addresses on the triplicate form AND on the WhoIs registration lookup are registered to aol.com and yahoo.com (Don't be fooled by the "official" looking e-mail address on Second-to-None's web site, they're purchasing the site through Yahoo! Web Services - and w/ that purchase/registration comes a certain amount of coordinating e-mail addresses)

-Toll-free number on triplicate has outgoing message w/ office hours - even when you call during office hours nobody picks up (your "salesperson" is supposed to call this number ON YOUR PHONE with you to have someone verify that it is you writing out a check; nobody picked up and the young woman's hand was shaking)



BE WARY OF THE "TUGGING-ON-YOUR-HEARTSTRINGS" SALES PITCH
-Young salespeople share some details on their personal lives, ask what you do for a living, and then ask you for words of wisdom/advice to keep in mind as they progress in life.

-They go through this whole ordeal of having your rate/comment on their speaking skills (emphasizing they work hard to not use profane language) into a tri-fold, multi-page brochure/sign-up sheet.

-This brochure/sign-up sheet also has several magazines and their prices listed for you to browse through - they ask for you to buy as many magazines as you would like (gift packs) to have sent to the charity of your choice (because they KNOW you don't need anymore mag subscriptions yourself). On the triplicate form it says your magazine subscriptions will be processed through them. One of the REAL charitable organizations they say you can select to have your magazines sent to is the Boys and Girls Club. However there is no clear indication of how they will do that (they claim they'll lookup the name of the organization on the web later and fill in that info for you).

-To make the "sale" more legit, they say they'll call a toll-free number with you so they can verify the sale with their "boss" / "team leader." However, when this happens, all you get is an outgoing message stating their business hours (which they should pick up if you're calling during the business hours).

Jody
Pasadena, California
U.S.A.