[AKaeTrue]

OK, so I can admit it... I was duped by telemarketing fraud.
It was a "community reading group" NOT!
Since then, they have changed their name to, Mailbox Magazines.
I quickly discovered it was fraud shortly after when I had to leave endless messages on an answering machine that no one returns call from, and their "release form" sent later through the mail requiring my social security # before the incentives could be released... Which I did not fill out or send back!

I had to cancel my credit card to avoid further charges from them...

Now, They keep sending me this "bill" typed out in letter form to collect a dept...

My questions are:
1) how do I get them to stop sending me "bills" when no one will answer the phone and letters to their P.O. box are not being responded to.
2) Can this go on my credit when I did not give them my social security #?
3) What happens in cases like this?

I've pretty much come to terms that I'm out the money... But I do want them to leave me alone...
What do I do?
Thanks for any advise,
Kae

[Sentra]

I suggest going to this site. http://www.ripoffreport.com

Look up the name of the original company, and there are other websites to do this at, this is the one I mainly use, having just been ripped off by TruGenix Hoodia.

Keep every document you receive, and retrieve every record of payment. Contact the Better Business Bureau, and get everything you can out to others to help prevent this happening to anyone else. Report the unauthorized charges to your credit card and see if you can have them perform an investigation (Bring up Federal Regulation E).

Good luck to you.

[excon]

My questions are:
1) how do I get them to stop sending me "bills" when no one will answer the phone and letters to their P.O. box are not being responded to.
2) Can this go on my credit when I did not give them my social security #?
3) What happens in cases like this?

Kae

Hello Kae:

1) Write them a letter. Send it certified. In it, tell them to stop writing letters and not to phone you. I know, sounds to easy, but that's all it takes.

2) Yes. It doesn't matter whether you gave them your SS#.

3) If it DOES go on your credit report, then you have to hassell to get it off. Did you call the cops?

excon

[AKaeTrue]

Thank you both.
Can you send a certified letter to a P.O. box? They haven't responded to any of the other letters I've sent them... Does the fact that it's certified make a difference?
So, even if they don't have my SS#, they can still put it on credit? How?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm oblivious to this sort of thing.
My husbands business strongly depends on our credit scores and he's annoyed with me that I haven't been able to resolve this problem.
I try, but no one ever responds to me or calls me back.
Thanks again
Kae

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes you can send a certified letter to a PO box, but I doubt they will sign for it, and it will come back to you, but that is legal proof if you keep it, that you tried to contact them.
If not certified at least get proof of delivery.

And yes they can turn you in by your name and address, the credit bureau can cross reference you fairly easy.

If this could seriously effect your husbands business hire an attorney

Next if this ?place is close to you, you can go into the post office and find out who rents that box ( or at leat you used to) but if it is at a places like "mail boxes are us" you most likely can't find out who has the box.

Report them to the police, the DA, the better business bureau and most importanty to the POST MASTER, mail fraud is taken very serous

[AKaeTrue]

Thank you all for the advise. I am feeling very uneasy about this entire situation. It has been like trying to communicate with a brick wall... even worse at that because if I was standing in front of a brick wall, at least I could see it...
I'm having a difficult time getting any information other than the new P.O box with their new name (that was printed on a sticky label and placed on top of their old name)... The paper they're sending states that they need $200.00 for my dept owned for my account to be current... nothing else, no name, no #, they don't even have a way to make a payment... It's crazy...
I'll send a letter certified and proof of delivery.
This P.O. box is from Fl. And I'm in SC... or I would wait at the post office!!
Also, it's only $200.00 they're asking for. It would cost way more than that to hire an atterny... So another problem I face is, do I let them get away with it and pay the $200, or do I fight it with money I don't have to spare and spend way more than it would cost to pay them off, or do I risk my credit which would hurt my husbands business, and I can't do that...
Thanks Again
Kae

[AKaeTrue]

Oh, also I didn't call the police...
This was a call made to my home offering a membership to their book reading club. I have been a member to many book reading clubs along with my children in the past and thought nothing of it when they called.
Later I received this "bull" for magizines... That's when I discovered the answering machine... I left several messages over weeks and months with no call back. Then I started getting their "default magazine" every month.
Along with receiving the 1 magazine, $33.00 would be charged to my credit card. As I looked further into my statements, I noticed that $33.00 had been charged 3 months in a roll. I disputed them all but they would go back on... So I canceled the card... Thats when I started getting their letter.
I didn't know the cops could do anything about this.
Thanks again.

[excon]

Thank you all for the advise. ..So another problem I face is, do I let them get away with it and pay the $200, or do I fight it with money I don't have to spare and spend way more than it would cost to pay them off, or do I risk my credit which would hurt my husbands business, and I can't do that...
Kae

Hello again:

You're not listening!

You've been RIPPED OFF, And, you're considering PAYING them MORE?? Wow! How about sending me some if you're so easy?

My advice cost's you NOTHING - not $200 - NOTHING! IF this is a collection agency, there already IS a ding on your credit report - YOUR CREDIT REPORT- NOT YOUR HUSBANDS!! So, you're not saving ANYTHING by laying down for these crooks.

I don't know - do you want to fix it? Or do you want to help them get rich?

excon

[Fr_Chuck]

Ok, even if the police don't do anything but file a police report if this becomes a bigger issue you have documentation. And don't pay anything

In life you will find people who are crooks, they will note that you buy this or that by getting trash out of your tash box, or by finding out about you online from sites you visit. Then they sell this info to other companies who will just bill you for all sorts of things even though you have never bought them.

And yes some of these will even report them to credit reporting agencies, that is why you check your credit at least once a year normllaly every quarter. If something wrong has been placed on it, you notify the bureau and dispute the thing. Heck once I even had a garnishment for child support taken out of my pay, no court hearing notice, no legal notice as requied by TN, and it was not even me they were after, someone with very similar name, no one at the court house or my employer even checked the social number to see it was not me.

So bad things are going to happen and as his business gets bigger more and more are going to happen since people go after people with money more often.

And yes often hiring an attorney will cost more on the first bill, but of course the second and the third and the fourth charge makes it harder.

And another note, NEVER give credit card info over the phone, ( and never to to a site by a link in an email) in areas like Paypal, or eBay and the such I get at least 3 fake emails aday saying my account is this or that.

They have one time use or limited use cards that you can use for credit cards
Where you buy the card with a 20 or 50 or 100 or what ever amount you want to put on it. Once that money is used up, you throw the card away and get another one. While I would never use a credit card over the phone, I always make them mail me things in writing, ( bet only a few ever will) the only time I would ever give a number over the phone is if I called them, so I know who I am talking to.

What you do is write them a letter disputing any bill or disputing that you owe them many money. Order them to stop billing you at once.
Report them to the attorney general of the State of Fl and also of your state. Report them to the better Business Bureu of their state and file a police report for fraud.

Document all of these calls and info, now you have info if they report it to the credit bureau to fight it.

[AKaeTrue]

Thank you for all the advise. I've written a letter that I plan on mailing to the P.O box and have collected all the numbers I need to make calls to on Monday.
I also plan to file as many online reports as I can.
I've learned a lot from this terrible experience on how to better protect myself against fraud.
Exon, you can be assured that I won't be sending you or anyone else money in the future ;) . My husband is a commercial property investor, his business has not yet established a high enough score to earn it the right for a large credit line to obtain all the money necessary for his projects, so he uses both our credits for credit lines, construction loans, and what ever else to make up the difference. A negative score on my report could be detrimental to him and his business by those means...But, like Fr Chuck said, they would probably just keep sending letters requesting more money.
My initial thought on the matter of paying them was, "$200 or no roof over my head", but I see that my worries over having my husband upset at me were a little far fetched. I feel confident that by taking the precautions that have been suggested, I'll be just fine.
I'm a strong believer that everything happens for a reason...and who knows, if not for this, I may have been taken for my life's savings somewhere in the future...
Thank you every one once more...I needed that support to get the ball rolling...
Kae