About a year ago, I began receiving issues of _Stuff_ magazine in the mail, and shortly thereafter began receiving issues of Maxim.
I never subscribed to either magazine. I subsequently contacted the publishers, who advised me that the subscriptions had been ordered through Publications Unlimited & that I would have to contact them to get them cancelled. I did so, & received a message that the "subscriptions" would be cancelled, but that I "may receive one or two additional copies as the publisher may have prelabeled..."
The issues of Stuff stopped coming, but I have been receiving issues of Maxim ever since. I have sent numerous e-mails to Publications Unlimited requesting that they cease these mailings & advising them IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that I did not subscribe to these magazines and will assume NO financial responsibility for them.
Each e-mail was answered with the same stock reply ("You may receive one or two additional copies, " etc.). One contained an additional notification that they had cancelled subscriptions to two additional magazines that I never received, much less subscribed to.
Finally, on July 20, I sent what amounted to a cease-and-desist letter via e-mail, & received no response. I have received two (2) issues of Maxim since then.
Again, I did not subscribe to these magazines & can think of nothing else that I may have done (contests, promotions, etc.) that would have triggered these mailings. I have no choice but to believe that Publications Unlimited saw fit to initiate these "subscriptions" based on personal information that they may have stolen from a website of some other electronic source, & intend to bill or charge me for the magazines at some future date.
Regardless, I believe that their actions to date constitute fraud, an attempt at extortion, and perhaps the successful commission of identity theft. I now check my credit card and bank account statements each month for unauthorized activity.
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