Marquis Fulfillment Agency "Powerhouse Marketing Clearing Business Through Marquis Fulfillment Agency," "MFA" Magazine selling SCAM Buford, Georgia

A really fat, young college kid showed up at my door yesterday. He immediately started talking really fast, asking if i knew what the BBC was, said most of my neighbors didn't know what it was, and rambled on something about raising money for an internship to London. He introduced himself as Chris Barber, which apparently this "Chris Barber" name is used everywhere for this scam, as I am now discovering via internet. He explained that he was selling magazine subscriptions to help raise money for this internship for whatever his major was, he was talking really fast so i don't remember. Maybe communications?

Anyway, he continuously made flattering comments about how I was the nicest person he had talked to that day and everyone else slammed the door in his face, and how appreciative he was for me taking the time to help him out. He offered to do chores around my apartment, clean my car, etc if I helped him out, but he said it in a joking/desperate manner. For some reason, I thought he was just an honest kid trying to raise some money for his school trip. I am pretty sure I did similar door to door fundraisers as a kid. He then went on to explain the different magazines and the point system and I asked him how much it costs, he said $38 for a 3 year subscription.

I figured I would oblige him and look through the pamphlets. He said that I could send the magazine to a military branch of choice or a children's hospital, or even pay for a subscription as a Christmas present. How horrible to pull the 'military' card, or the 'children's hospital' card. Obviously I have a soul, so I started to feel like I would have been doing something good and I was thinking of the friends I have that are in the military right now, and how much they enjoy receiving things from people in the states. I decided I would purchase a sports magazine subscription for the Marines. He even went as far as to tell me not to forget that there are women in the military and sometimes people dont think to send female related items. A legitimate concern.

He also said his dad was in the military so he supported my choice. So he asked if he could come in my apartment and sit down to fill out the receipt. I wasn't sure how to respond, so I said ok (my table is literally right next to the door, so i kept my hand on the doorknob as he sat down and filled out the receipts. I know, why would I ever let a stranger in my apartment? How ignorant and stupid am I? He explained that I could cancel the subscription any time after he left, but "dont tell anyone that" or he would get in trouble. He said he would receive half of the points still, if i canceled. He asked for cash or check, but said no one usually gives him cash. I wrote a check for $51 (with some shipping and handling fee, the $38 became $51). He told me (for my protection) to write his name and the account

number in the memo section of the check and I wrote it out to MFA (Marquis Fulfillment Agency). I even made an extra scratch mark on the check on accident and he said, "they are really strict about that so just please initial that you did that," and he really sounded sincere. He left the "person to receive magazine" section blank, and I asked how I would know that it actually was sent to who it was supposed to go to. He said I would receive notification of that, and that I would even receive a phone call before the check was deposited out of 'courtesy.' I thought that was weird. He said I could post date the check, and that the last person dated the check for the following month.

So I post dated my check for later in the month. So he thanked me a million times throughout the process, continued to compliment me, continued to offer to do chores for me, throughout the process. After he left, I had a really weird feeling that the whole thing was a scam. I looked at the cancellation process on the 'receipt' i had, and you can't cancel by phone. The only way to cancel is sign the back of the receipt and mail it and they must receive it by midnight of the 3rd business day of the date written. So that was really frustrating, and i decided to go to the address of the company's location. It is only a PO box. The phone number doesn't work, either. It just sends you to a voicemail that says all representatives are busy, please leave a message and your call will be returned.

Then i noticed it says no cancellations over the phone. It also says a stopping of the check is not a 'legal' form of cancellation. Well im pretty sure what they are doing is not legal, either. Anyway, I called the bank and asked what the charge was to have a check stopped. Wachovia says $30. I explained the whole situation and told them I found out it was a scam ONLY because I looked this company up on the internet, and this exact scam is happening to multiple people all over the place. They agreed to waive the fee this time since it was a scam, and they are stopping the check at no charge for me. Lesson learned: you really cannot trust people you don't know these days. No one.