June08 - Hispanic-looking female teenager comes to door in rainstorm on a Saturday afternoon - no coat, no umbrella.'Pls help me get off the street, I dont want any money, I just want you to buy these magazines' plus a lot of talk on how hard it is, lost her parents, Chicago gangs, and the jargon of the day regarding how life is... So we felt sorry for her! Gave her a jacket, an umbrella and a check to cover 3 magazines. Four months later, no magazines, so I started investigating (incidently my check was cashed in 48 hours). I have now since learned that perhaps I am lucky that I only lost cash - there's alot info out there regarding folks that were robbed, raped and kids that tried to get out of these door-to-door selling gangs go missing when they try to leave.
Anyway, please be vigilante! It is too bad that we need to reel in our misplaced sympathy and say NO! But if someone is selling something to you on a cold call, and you dont know them, please say no and call your local police. The police can 1 - see if they have appropriate identification, 2 - run them out of town if they are not legit, 3 - perhaps protect you and your neighbors from getting robbed or worsel.
I am in the process of contacting the Northern Indiana BBB - but most agencies these days dont seem to have the funds to be very active - and since there appears to be a half dozen groups/names running off this same address, it appears the something awful fishy is going on - like just who is looking the other way???
I will also be contacting any magazine subscription service I can find on the internet and complain to them. Mag subs seems to fuel this scam.
Thanks for the voice.
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