I am a college Freshman and was sitting in my dorm when I got an unexpected knock on my door. When I opened the door, two college guys were standing there, and told me about a contest. They introduced themselves and wanted to know a little about me before they went into their "routine."
They explained that they were communications majors and for their class they were involved in a contest. If they got enough points they would win a trip to Cancun to better their "communications" skills. Being a nice girl, and yes, naive, I believed every word. They pulled out a list of magazines that I could buy to give them points. I picked one that I liked, and they said it wasn't enough points and offered another.
I should mention that they said the contest ended the same night, and if they got three more people to sign up they would win. They asked if I knew other people that would be interested and I said no.
So I filled out the "receipt" and gave my signature, and they said I had to give cash or check at that moment. I argued with them about this for at least ten minutes saying I didn't have the funds at that point. They were whining, saying that I filled out the receipt and they were responsible for it. If I didn't pay, then they would lose. So I stupidly wrote a check for $53.00, even though I hadn't seen the price list for the magazines, or any kind of paperwork saying this was legit.
They left after they had my check, and went down to the other end of my hall. I sensed something was fishy, so I went online and looked up Universal Subscription Agency, and the first thing to pop up was reports of scams. I looked them up on the BBB, and they were not a member, and there was almost two-hundred complaints.
Kicking myself at this point, I grabbed a few of my guy friends to escort me back to the scammers. I demanded that they give me my check back, and told them I knew it was a scam. Luckily they gave the check back after a couple minutes of arguing. They said they never had anyone do this, and they would lose their trip to Cancun. They said they would have to turn in all of their receipts and if they didn't have a check for one of them it would look bad. They wouldn't give me the receipt back, however.
Looking back I realize I was stupid for even opening my door for someone I didn't know. These guys didn't have any kind of paperwork that verified what they were doing, just some laminated pieces of paper and magazine lists. I hope others don't get caught in the trap that I did.
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