1) Opening up the September Harper's magazine I found this on pg 6
SUBSCRIBER ALERT: Dear Harper's Magazine Readers, It has come to our attention that several of our subscribers have received renewal notifications from an independent magazine clearinghouse doing business under the names Magazine Billing Services, Publishers Processing Services Inc., and American Consumer Publish Assoc. These companies have not been authorized to sell subscriptions on behalf of Harper's Magazine...
Oof—I knew had just sent in some kind of renewal a couple of weeks ago. But I called the magazine and they had received it. I've got a grudging admiration for this scam, though, since I get this kind of notice all of the time and pay the bill without really thinking whether the soliciting agency is legitimate. I subscribe to quite a few magazines but do keep track of when their renewal dates occur. If I've fallen for it, it's probably a New Yorker subscription solicitation, not a Harper's one, that victimized me. I stopped getting the magazine and had to call—they said they hadn't received the renewal. But I'm certain I sent it in.
2) Later, a call from a robot. It informed me that my credit card number had been "stolen" and that it would be 5 to 6 days before I got a new one. I managed to interrupt the robot and get connected to a person. "Some kind of Internet break-in," was all the person would say. I wanted to know which merchant. "The investigation is continuing." It's inconvenient because I have lots of automatic charges on that card. Since the calling robot and customer service person both knew the issuing bank and branding on the card I don't think the robot call was a scam, and in any case they didn't ask for the number, and they knew the most recent charge on the card.
I need to resurrect dormant credit cards for my trip to Canada coming up next week.
Comments