On 1-3-08 A young man came to our door with a nearly identical pitch as others have documented on this site. He was the "nephew" of one of our neighbors. He gave the first name of the neighbor that seemed incorrect to me, but I was not sure. He seemed confused about which house it was and told a sob story of his grandmother who fell on the driveway at the holidays an broke both arms.
He stated he was trying to "earn" a trip to England and only needed a few more sales to qualify. He smelt terrible and had severe congestion, and kept saying he was having trouble hearing us. He claimed that if we purchased certain books and DVDs they would go to a home in Boulder City that housed teminally ill children.
He also was selling magazines and showed some cheap laminated sales materials that fit into a large leather wallet. Seeing a magazine title I had an interest in and since many of the materials were explained to be received by such a good cause I agreed to place an order.
I had become a a bit more skeptical when he told us he was leaving for England on Jan 20th, (he was trying to "qualify" for this trip?) I was a bit surprised when the order totaled $109. I wrote him a check and as soon as he left, I Googled up the company and saw at least two reports on a Ken Kanter/Dynasty Sales. I went to their website, (www.mydynasty.com) and clicked "contacts" and no phone numbers or address came up.
Only a PO Box in Phoenix was on my receipt and the "Independant Contractor" was Ken Kanter! I felt he was still in the neighborhood as he had asked for other names of neighbors. I jumped in my car, and sure enough I spotted him sitting in my neighbors house writing up another order. I went inside an explained to him in front of friends that I was not comfortable with the sale and demanded my check back. He actually broke into tears and claimed he would be "deducted" points for the cancellation.
I told him if everything checked out I would reinstate and asked for his phone number. He had no card, (surprise, surprise) and wrote a number on a grocery receipt supplied by the neighbor. I could tell it was fake because it had an error in the local area code!
Evidently my neighbor had already written their check, as a few moments later the neighbor came to my house asking for the guys phone number. This guy had made references to several other neighbors by name, and each one had "made an order" and referred others. Ohter items that matched other reports: He had a two yr. Old son, asked to sit at our table, invited himself to our candy dish, going to visit the BBC in London, etc.
All of the presonal remarks and neighbor name dropping is to gain your confidence, (CON man) Be aware, and don't make the same mistakes—Signed
"Savvy, just in time"
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