Re: magazine credit card scam?

>Thought I'd throw this out there, anyone have any advice?

Magazines are a scam, because they claim that they will be delivered
by something called the U.S. Postal Service. They also claim that
they (the magazine publishers) accept change-of-address instructions
in the same geologic era they are received. Both claims seem to
be inaccurate most of the time, although some people claim it works
in their area.

>So back in March of this year, I made a purchase at Strawberries Music
>and Video store. They happened to be running a promotion that day,
>where you could sign up to have three issues of three different
>magazines delivered to your door over the next three months. They did

Promotional subscriptions tend to have a lousy per-magazine rate,
and they are often for 10 or 20 years, but they bury that in the
fine print as much as possible. Also, you will probably get the
bill for the magazines before the first issue arrives. Also, to
get them to cancel such a subscription, you have to get their
attention, but they don't warn you that bomb threats or actual bombs
get the attention of the Feds, too.

>Well the magazines came, and three months later in July, I received a
>bill for the magazines. Three different lines on my statement, each
>for $20. I was not happy. There was also a phone number on the same
>line as my purchase, 877-781-3425. I called this number, and had to
>listen to an automated message. At no point was I ever offered to talk
>to a live representative.

India is busy now, please call again later ...

>say. Basically they said "i had excellent credit with them, and they
>wanted to reward me for it." They were going to basically give me free
>magazines for the next year, all i had to do was pay for shipping.

*RED ALERT* Shipping is usually much higher than the price of the
magazine. For 'reward', read 'scam'.

>Then, the man on the phone said his boss wanted to talk to me. "I'm
>still new here, and my boss would like to speak with you, would you put
>in a good word for me?" I spoke with the boss, he talked my ear off,
>and then asked me to verify my credit card info.

Don't verify over the phone, especially if THEY called YOU. It
makes the phone unsanitary. Be sure to use that excuse every time.
Usually if they ask you to "verify" something, they don't know it
and they are phishing for it.

>He knew, through our
>conversation, that I had a visa. He says "Okay, could you verify your
>CC # for me? It begins with a 4, and then what?" There was no way I
>was giving him my credit card info.

Some scammers try to get the name of your bank, and the last 12
digits of your credit card number. The bank name usually gives
them the first 4 digits. Just in case it's not unique, they can
probably find out which one is correct using the Luhn checksum. I
suspect my employer's MIS department has this list as they deal a
lot with credit card billing; it's probably not hard to get. I
know they have the specs on how to calculate the Luhn checksum as
they wanted me to put it on a web page. Oh, yes, there's also some
rules for how many digits the card number is supposed to have.

>He was presistent in his request,
>but I refused. Finally I got so upset that I told him to cancel every
>subscription I had with them. He told me to have a nice day, and hung
>up the phone.

Don't bet on the cancellations actually taking.

>I was pissed, and I later found out that EVERY visa card starts with a
>4.

Yep.

>guy: you have great credit, we want to reward you. blah blah blah, how
>old are you? who is your bank?

For 'reward', read 'scam'.

Gordon L. Burditt
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: mail - yes, its horse related
    ... My mother suddenly started to get several magazines ... ... When I finally started checking into it, she had a monthly charge on her credit card for $67!!!! ... Now, bad enough she was getting these worthless things, but what they were sending were magazines that were at least a month behind ... ... But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. ...
    (rec.equestrian)
  • Re: magazine credit card scam?
    ... >So back in March of this year, I made a purchase at Strawberries Music ... >magazines delivered to your door over the next three months. ... I payed for my initial purchase with my credit card, ... If in the US and the phone company supports it you can use call trace. ...
    (misc.consumers)
  • Re: magazine credit card scam?
    ... So back in March of this year, I made a purchase at Strawberries Music ... magazines delivered to your door over the next three months. ... I payed for my initial purchase with my credit card, ... blah blah blah. ...
    (misc.consumers)