December 30, 2014
Las Vegas, NV – Nevada
Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto urges Nevadans to be aware of a trend
of fraudulent mail regarding newspapers and magazines subscriptions.
Individuals across the state may have received mailings seeking higher than
normal renewal fees which appear to be legitimate bills, invoices or renewal
notices from a newspaper or magazine.
“I strongly encourage Nevadans to carefully
review any mail asking to buy or renew a subscription of a print media
product,” said Masto.
Furthermore, seniors should be especially
aware of scams of this nature, since they represent a main target for scammers
and are often seen as vulnerable.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR:
The deceptive notices may contain the
following information:
- Words such as “notice of renewal” or “new order” and
also a company name that has words such as “publishers,” “billing,”
“services,” “payment” or “circulation” in its name
- An official-looking “control number”
- Statements encouraging consumers to lock in their “low
rates”
- Print on the back of the invoices stating that they
come from someone other than the publisher
- A self-addressed, unpaid postage envelope bearing a
Post Office box or other mailing address that is located in a different
state than the publisher
- Renewal notices offering highly inflated prices, in
some cases nearly twice the actual renewal cost
- Subscribers have reported receiving these deceptive
notices outside their regular billing periods, and sometimes after they
have already renewed their subscriptions
WHAT TO DO:
- Contact your newspaper publisher directly if you have a
question about whether your subscription is expiring or needs to be
renewed. Contact information is generally available in your newspaper and
on the newspaper’s official web site
- Contact the publisher directly before paying for a
suspected fraudulent notice
- Consider canceling the order if you believe you may
have already paid a suspicious renewal notice
- File a complaint with the newspaper as soon as possible
if you receive a deceptive renewal notice
- You can also file a complaint
with the U.S.
Postal Inspection Service and with the Federal
Trade Commission
The Attorney General’s office believes there
may be consumers affected by this scam. If you have received a suspicious
subscription notice or paid for the subscription and not received the product,
file a complaint with our office. Complaint forms are available on our
website at ag.nv.gov or by clicking here. Be sure to attach a copy of the
deceptive notice to your complaint.
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