I just got this renewal form in the mail today form national magazine service. I don’t know if this is official form Model Railroader, but I wanted to get the word out about this. It may be isolated, I don’t know. This is just a warning
It is an exceedingly rare event that unsolicited mail of either the analog or digital kind is not a waste of time or is a missed opportunity.
Thanks for posting the warning. This problem seems to be reported a couple of times a year.
-Crandell
I just received the same form telling me my RMC subscription needed to be renewed. My subscription doesn’t expire until next May! Everybody’s trying to make a buck on someone elses name now days. The only real renewal notices for MR come from Kalmbach Publishing and for RMC come from Carstens Publishing. I get these bogus ones a couple of times a year.
Teen Steam Fan:
That’s a good heads up, and IMO it should be realized as such. I’ve recieved several renewal notices from various places in Southern California about renewing not only MR, but RMC and the Catholic Digest.
I think MR posted a notice a few months ago about this scam, but it’s good that we be reminded about it, again. As official as these notices look, if you trace them back, they all go to obscure PO boxes. They’ve been investigated out here in California, and the addresses all seem to be in rented ‘strip mall’ offices. And of course, if you send in the renewal form with money, the money stops right there. It never reaches the magazine.
Best thing to do is ignore them, and if you happen to have a shredder handy, consign them to Confetti.[:P]
Tom
I get these scam magazine renewal notices from questionable companies all the time, even for magazines that I have already just renewed for 4 or 5 years.
Carstens was printing half-page notices in RMC earlier this year warning about sham renewal offers.
If you have a subscription with Model Railroader, you can log in and check your subscription status. There have been some scams that have been discussed here in forums about companies saying that they sell subscriptions to MR, and to my knowledge, they do NOT deal with 3rd parties in selling their subscriptions.
There was a thread about this a few days back. I traced one of the ‘send your money here’ addresses to a, ‘P.O. Boxes are Us,’ storefront in a shopping mall just north of the UNLV campus.[|(]
Then I got one, allegedly from Model Railroader, from a ??? in California. When I called their customer service number the robot voice immediately informed me, “This is not a bill.” The same was printed on the document - lettering about 1/2 millimeter high.[:-^]
Funny. It was alleged to be for a KalPubCo product, but they obviously got my name from a Carstens mailing list…[D)]
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - MR subscriber even longer)
I got two of them today in the mail from this same outfit. Strictly bogus, IMHO. They not only wanted me to send money to renew my RMC subscription (expires in Apr. 2011!), but to renew my Flying Model one - Wait… I don’t HAVE a subscription to FM! Oh, and they got the subscription price wrong, too (reg. 37.95/yr. - their bargain price $44.91)![:D]
Sorry, but I have no respect for a crook that dumb!
I sent a heads-up to Carstens Publications…
You’d be surprised to learn how many gullible people there are who fall for these scams and send their money without realizing it’s a ripoff. It is wasn’t profitable the crooks wouldn’t still be in business.
There’s an ongoing case here in Arizona of a woman in Tombstone who rented a P.O. Box in Phoenix that was the return address to which people were to send a check in the amount of $167 to appeal their 2009 property tax assessment in a scheme called the “Property Tax Review Board.” These official looking notices were sent to every property owner in Arizona using lists gleaned from public records.
The county assessor said the time period for appeals has long passed. The State Attorney General and U.S. Postal inspectors seized the P.O. Box and have recovered over $650,000 in checks that people mailed to her thinking it was a legitimate offer. And filing an appeal of your assessment is something every property owner can do for free.
THats the part that keeps their butt out of hot water. i got the same thing but i don’t fall for the scams. it could from an extra perseption, or it could just be i’m not as easily to persuade as the acerage person but i threw it away. i didn’t even look at it long enough to see this 1/2mm high super fine print. when it comes time to renue i have a plastic card and access to MR/kalmbachs web site. not to mention an actual renual notice from MR. that one’s real.