I was a victim of a door-to-door fundraising scam in Chino Hills, CA
Details:
- Young, 20 something white kid, calling himself Billy. Puka shell necklace, short hair, looked a little rough, but very well spoken and convincing.
- He is my neighbor
- He cracked jokes and said that he should really be a stand up comic
- He is a student at SDSU
- He asked me if I was a fan of the school's football team
- He is in a band and he won some awards for his band
- His uncle is Bill Mahr (yes, he seriously told me that)
- He was trying to get a trip to Europe and asked me if I had ever been there
- Instead of magazine subscriptions (he said they don't do those anymore), he was trying to get "points"; the more points, the more books that would be given to needy children
- He asked for $43. I told him I didn't have much and offered $20. He asked me to make it $23 and said that some of my neighbors were doing "partial" amounts too, and he could combine them.
- He asked me to make the check out to MFA (which I discovered is Marquis Fulfillment Agency LLC)
- He told me that it would be tax deductible
- He told me that he would bring me back a receipt (he never did)
- He told me that I would be mailed a form for my contribution for tax purposes
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I did my research, cancelled my check and called the cops. Now I am posting here. From what I've read, they are coast-to-coast and they have moved from Florida to Kansas, just recently (a few days back) to Utah, and now they are in Southern California.
Good luck!
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