When you sign up for a subscription to a magazine does the company save the card you filled out?

Question

for those that was curious i am asking because i have had people sign me up for magazines and the companies wouldnt do anything

Answer 1

No idea, really, but my guess would be no. I would assume they enter it into their database of subscribers and then chuck it.

Answer 2

Yes, they save it.

If you become the victim of the scam where some one or some persons fill in magazine subscription (or other subscription) cards in your name, in the State of California, you have several options.

Ultimately it should be treated as "identity theft" especially if they also have your phone number and email address. Here are several things you can and should do.

1. If you receive email invoices to your 'spam' folder or in box, go online and find the name of the publisher of the magazine. eMail their customer service and tell them you placed no orders and you wish for all items in your name to be cancelled and flagged as FRAUD.

2. Go to the California District Attorney Department of Consumer Affairs site and file a complaint against the publisher. If you receive an Invoice through the USPS, you can report both the PO box from which the Invoice originates, as well as the HQ of the publisher of the magazine.

For California Residents, this is the link:

http://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company

Complete the form for EVERY invoice you receive. Mail the invoice back to the company explaining you did not order the item, you want the item and any other items on file cancelled, and that they should be receiving a PIU letter from the District Attorney's Consumer Affairs office on your behalf.

3. File a report with the USPS and the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). The FTC will assign your complaint a number (hold onto the number for reference). The USPS will acknowledge your complaint. You can post that acknowledgment to your mail box and also give a copy to your postal carrier asking that they please send ANY AND ALL magazines in your name back as "NOT ORDERED". They can do this

4. The FTC will provide a form to be completed so that you can sent it to any of the three Credit Reporting Agencies (I recommend Experian). The form is here:

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0094-identity-theft-affidavit.pdf

Fill it in to the best of your ability. If you have your local police department complete a Case Number for you, include that information. There is a place within the form for an Officer to sign.

5. Contact one of the three credit reporting agencies and put a 90-120 day fraud alert onto your credit. Again, I recommend Experian. They will respond with a letter and an identification number against which you can send back to them a copy of the Identity Theft Affidavit and/or the Police Report along with copies of the District Attorney's acknowledgement letters or simply create a list of PIU numbers.

What will happen is this:

A. The Consumer Affairs Department will sent you acknowledgment letters with PIU numbers on them. They will also sent a letter to the business against which you have sent the complaint. That business is required to fill out a form. If they got a card they will often provide a photocopy of it so you can see if you recognize the hand writing. In some instances the cards are hand written, others the jerks doing this put labels onto them. Either way, the card is proof of the (Mail) Fraud.

B. The Post Office can kick any magazines for which labels were generated before you could get the account cancelled back as "Not Ordered" so you do not have pounds of magazines showing up at your house.

C. Sending the invoices back with notes and with a copy of the D.A. complaint form should get the company to cancel the account so you receive no additional bills; also, you will have proof with the complaint and the PIU number that you actively pursed getting all subscriptions cancelled so that you are not suddenly faced with a 'collections' situation.

Keep every piece of paper associated with the Fraud // Identity Theft.

Send every invoice back UNOPENED with notes.

Try to find the publisher's information online; if you contact them by phone you may find that they have more than one magazine subscription in your name even if they only sent you one invoice. You want to be sure they cancel any, every, and ALL subscriptions.

BE AWARE, people who pull this prank also submit cards to places like Bradford Exchange, Danbury Mint, WatchTower Bible Study, Salvation Army, etc. etc. Whoever these jerks are, they love to fill out cards.

EVERY instance of an invoice arriving for something you did not order must be reported immediately to the DA link above, and must be sent back unopened (you will be using a lot of #10 envelopes and postage). If you write "refused" on it, it will (by USPS standard practice) just end up in the trash.

You can amend your Identity Theft Affidavit and your Police report as needed, as you will receive both conformation letters from the DA's office, and some number of responses from the publishers of these magazines.

From November 2013 to January 2014 I have had over 30 of these come through, and I have received 6 written responses and 3 email responses (from the publishers).

Good Luck!!!

Answer 3

I worked at a magazine warehouse...after we enter the data into the computer we throw away the card.

Answer 4

I think they do.
I remember asking for a copy of one once, when someone signed me up for a magazine and I asked them for proof. It was the only way I could refute it.

Answer 5

Why? Are you thinking of pretending that you never really asked for the magazine to be delivered?

Answer 6

yes .so they can tell what magazines usigned up to get nd the 1's you didnt sign up 2 get...lol

Answer 7

Good question, probably not- they probably put the info into the computer and shred the card.

Answer 8

Mail fraud, Mail Fraud...woop, wooop!!

Answer 9

Good question, let's see.....

WHO CARES?

Answer 10

Good ??? not sure what they do with them!!!