Who's Who Registry of Academic Excellence-Middle School Edition Using Children for Scam Washington, District of Columbia

In 2008 & 2009, my son was sent a letter in the mail stating that he was one of the elite few to be nominated for recognition in the Who's Who Registry of Academic Excellence- Middle School Edition.  Being a proud parent and having heard of the prestiges award in the past I was very pleased to say the least. I did not have the funds the first time around for the 2007-2008 book, so when he was nominated again for the 2008-2009 school year I did not want to miss the chance to have souvenirs of such an honor.  I sent in $150.00 for my son's picture and biography, a copy of the book and other items that were offered.  Needless to say the entire thing was a scam.  I made several phone calls to the company and was promised several times that the items would be mailed to me.  It is now 2011 and we have not received anything to this day including a refund.  I tried contacting the Better Business Bureau in D.C., they could not find the company or it's publisher Gary C. Shirley. The only suggestion they could offer after their investigation was to try to file a suit and see if they can be found that way.  I have had no such luck!  I find it totally ridiculous that people would use children for their own selfish scams.  Somehting needs to be done about these types of scams our children work very hard to keep their grades up and stay on tasks, to get them excited about such awards as this just to find out later that they are scams really brings down the morale and motivation of the students.  Not to mention the struggle it takes for single parents like myself to come up with this amount of money just to have it stolen by cowardly thieves that don't have enough backbone to show their disgusting faces!