Copycat Scammers

L ike cockroaches, thieving s.o.b.s who attempt to defraud subscribers to magazines like texas fish & game are almost impossible to completely irradicate.

You may remember that last year we alerted you to a group of con artists who were operating a subscription scam from a base in Oregon. Thanks to a coordinated effort by attorneys general in a number of states, including Texas, that group was shut down.

But now there appears to be a new gang of copycats trying to get into the action.

Bogus renewal notices have been mailed to a number of our subscribers from a company identifying itself as Secured Publisher Mail Center, or SPMC. Inside a blaring red envelope is a form that looks like this:

If you have received a notice like this, DO NOT send these clowns any money. They will just keep it and not forward your order to us. If you have already responded to this fraudulent renewal notice, call us at (800) 725-1134 and we will honor your subscription.

A simple Google Earth search of the return address on the form revealed that this “company” is actually located in a UPS Store in a strip center in Sandy, Utah.

There are legitimate agencies out there selling subscriptions, but they operate on pre-arranged terms with publishers and we know every agency that represents texas fish & game. So, if you have any doubts about a solicitatiion for subscriptions, call the 800 number listed above.

We have shared all of this information with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, along with the manager’s name and contact information at the Sandy, Utah UPS Store. Hopefully they will be able to squash these vermin before any more fish & game readers are bothered.

After re-reading our first paragraph, we may have been a bit harsh in comparing these scammers to cockroaches. Our apologies to cockroaches.    

Email Roy and Ardia Neves at ContactUs@fishgame.com

E-mail Roy at rneves@fishgame.com and Ardia at aneves@fishgame.com

 

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