UNC students should watch out for magazine scammers

Amanda Foster was walking home and listening to her iPod when a strange man stopped her.

“At first I thought he was going to ask for directions,” said the graduate student in the School of Information and Library Science. “He was like, ‘Miss, you look like a nice lady’ and started showering me with all these fake compliments.”

The man told Foster he was participating in a competition: Whoever sold the most magazine subscriptions would win a free trip to anywhere in the world.

Foster is one of the many students who reported such incidents to campus security.

“I knew it was a scam because these magazine sellers used to come around my old college,” she said. “People would pay with cash or check but never receive their subscriptions.”

Foster said the magazine sellers used to follow students into dormitories and go from door-to-door soliciting buyers.

Randy Young, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, confirmed that such incidents have occurred.

“There have been no formal charges, but several students have come into the office saying they’ve had unwanted approach by assertive magazine sellers.”

Young said UNC has a non-solicitation policy, so the magazine sellers are considered trespassers and will be ordered to leave if caught.

“Anyone who encounters one of these sellers should call 911 immediately,” he said.

Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission and other organizations warn about these magazine scams.

Sophomore Rachel Melvin had an experience similar to Foster’s.

She said she was approached outside the R.B. House Undergraduate Library by a man who said he was part of a competition being run by the Union.

Melvin said the man showed her magazines ranging from children’s titles to Playboy. She said he also claimed to be a UNC student, but that she didn’t believe him.

“He didn’t strike me as the smartest cookie in the box,” she said. “Plus, people here are respectful if you’re busy or have to get to class. This guy wouldn’t let me walk away.”

“When I told him I didn’t have any money, he offered to give me a piggy-back ride to the ATM.”

When asked if she thought it was a scam, Melvin said she couldn’t tell. “He was slightly aggressive in an overly nice way, but he sounded sincere,” she said.

She said the man, who called himself Jason, was far too personal.

“He asked me if I had a boyfriend six times and kept saying I had really pretty eyes,” she said.

“And he kept high-fiving me.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.