A young man claiming to live in my neighborhood was selling children's sponsorships for books from Tuscan Readers Services. He claimed to be raising money for his Club Football team's trip to Maui.
He told me his parents' names and what street he lived on. Said that his mom made him offer to come back and walk my dogs or any other chore that I wanted if I helped sponsor him. He was very polite and personable.
Minimum sponsorship was $40, and I wrote him a check. After he left, I started thinking about his story. It didn't really make sense that he was raising money for children's sponsorhips to buy children's books, when he was also raising money for his football team's trip to Maui.
I looked in the telephone book and didn't find a listing for his parents. I got on the internet and searched for Tuscan Readers Services and found the scam report filed by a former employee of Tuscan Readers Services. His story was very similar to the story that I had just heard—only the sports activity and the destination country were different.
I stopped payment on my check, but this young man and his employer have my address and phone number. Don't know what will happen next.
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