Magazine Subscription Solicitations

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The Attorney General’s Office warns people to be on guard against magazine sellers that use aggressive tactics and phony claims to sell subscriptions. Some people have been duped into paying thousands of dollars for magazines they did not want or “renewing” subscriptions that were already paid up months in advance. While these fraudulent sales pitches can take many forms, the scheme is generally initiated in one of three ways—telemarketing phone calls, direct-mail solicitations, or through door-to-door salespeople. Before you purchase or renew your next subscription, know the following:

Telemarketing Magazine Sales

Some unscrupulous telemarketers use deceptive and high-pressure sales pitches to trick people into paying for multi-year magazine packages that can cost more than $1,000. To carry out the scheme, some telemarketers use a three-part phone call.

In the first part, the telemarketer calls you and makes the sales pitch, which may be loaded with misrepresentations and outright lies. For example, the telemarketer may falsely claim to represent your existing magazine company, falsely state that you have won a lucrative prize (which never materializes or turns out to be worth very little), or falsely indicate that you may cancel the package at any time (when you cannot).

Second, the telemarketer transfers you to a “supervisor” to “verify” the sale. The telemarketer lures you into disclosing your personal and financial information.

Third, after the telemarketer has obtained this information, the telemarketer convinces you to participate in a tape-recorded “verification” of the order. This “verification” may be the first and only time the telemarketer discloses the true terms of the subscription package. To confuse you, the telemarketer may talk very fast. If you indicate that the terms are different from what was offered earlier in the call, the telemarketer may tell you to ignore what he or she is saying and that the earlier “terms” are the actual terms of the agreement, even though this is not true. Some telemarketers have gone so far as to splice or otherwise doctor recordings to make it sound like you ordered something that you did not. While there are many variations of telemarketing magazine schemes, some of the more common include:

  1. You’ve Won a Prize. Under this variation, a telemarketer tells you that you have won a valuable prize, such as a $1,000 gift card. The telemarketer tells you that to receive the prize, you must order a magazine service that costs “pennies a day” or “dollars a week.” In truth, the telemarketer charges you more than $1,000 for the magazine service and does not deliver the gift card. When you complain about not receiving  the gift card, the telemarketer relies on the tape-recorded “verification” (in which the gift is never mentioned) to pressure you into paying for the service.
  2. You’re Entitled to a “Lower” Payment or “Credit.” Under this variation, a telemarketer calls you and identifies himself as a representative of your existing magazine company or publisher. Because some magazine sellers share people’s information, the telemarketer may already have your information and use it to legitimize his or her claims. In some cases, the telemarketer may offer to lower your monthly payment to protect against future price increases. Other times, the telemarketer may offer a payment credit because you have purportedly been a good customer. The telemarketer then requires you to “verify” the terms of the reduced payment plan on a tape recording. In truth, the telemarketer uses this tape recording to sign you up for a new magazine package that costs several hundred dollars.
  3. “Bonus” Magazines. Under this variation, a telemarketer calls you and tells you that you did not receive your “bonus” magazines. As with other variations, the telemarketer typically identifies himself as a representative of your existing magazine company or publisher. The telemarketer uses a variety of ploys, such as pretending to take a survey, to lure you into providing your personal and financial information. The telemarketer then asks you to participate in the tape-recorded verification, in which you believe you are simply verifying the terms of your old agreement to receive the bonus magazines. In truth, the verification is used to sign you up for an additional magazine package.

Be very wary of buying magazine packages from telemarketers. Some of these companies refuse to cancel people’s packages, which may lead to unauthorized charges to a financial account that can only be stopped by cancelling the account. After this, the company may hound you for payment of the supposed “bill” or forward the account to a third-party collection agency. The company may also sell or trade your information to other companies, which could lead to a barrage of high-pressure calls from other deceptive magazine telemarketers. If you receive a call from a magazine telemarketer, consider the following:

Direct-Mail Solicitations

Some third-party companies mail solicitations that resemble renewal notices or subscription invoices that people receive from their existing magazine companies. To further the appearance that the solicitation is from the recipient’s existing magazine company, these third-party companies sometimes mail their solicitations under assumed business names that include words such as “publishers,” “billing,” “center,” “readers,” “payment,” or “service.” While these solicitations are designed to look like legitimate bills or renewal notices, the fine print typically indicates that the mailings are solicitations, not bills. The third-party companies that send these solicitations hope that some people will assume the solicitations were sent by or on behalf of their existing magazine company and send payment believing they are buying or renewing the subscription directly with the magazine. People who respond to these types of solicitations may later realize that they paid a much higher rate than that charged directly by their magazine company for the same subscription and have difficultly cancelling their orders. If you receive a solicitation in the mail offering a new or renewal subscription, consider the following:

Door-to-Door Solicitations

Door-to-door magazine solicitations are often conducted in the warmer months by young people who claim to be high school or college students. They may claim to be raising money for a trip abroad, baseball team, or some other school activity. The salesperson may promise that some portion of the sale will be donated to a charity, such as a children’s hospital or to troops overseas. Door-to-door salespersons are generally eager to close the sale on the spot and ask for immediate payment by cash or check. If you are contacted by a door-to-door salesperson, consider the following:

A Word About Early Renewal Notices

Some magazine publishers send renewal notices in cases where a customer has already paid up months or years in advance. The “renewal” notice may imply that the subscription is running out or contain language meant to create a false sense of urgency, such as "YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION IS REQUIRED." In more extreme cases, the mailings may even suggest that your subscription will be suspended or your account will be sent to collection if you do not immediately renew. These companies count on the fact that subscribers do not always know when their subscription ends. To avoid renewing your subscription earlier than you want or need to, consider the following:

Additional Resources

If you have been subject to a magazine scam, or have concerns about any subscription offer or renewal, you may file a complaint with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and Federal Trade Commission as follows:

Office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
445 Minnesota Street, Suite 600
St. Paul, MN 55101
(651) 296-3353 (Twin Cities Calling Area)
(800) 657-3787 (Outside the Twin Cities)
(800) 627-3529 (Minnesota Relay)

Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20580
(877) 382-4357
TTY: (866) 653-4261
www.reportfraud.ftc.gov external link icon

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