National Communication Contest aka Magazine scam?

browneyedsquirrel

So I had this happen to me last year where a teenage boy came knocking on my door. He starts off asking me if I'll sponsor/vote for him in some National Communication Contest.

Being the kind soul I am I give him the time of day. He asked to be invited into my home, I say okay, though I'm really uncomfortable about it. He then continues to talk in tangents and circles until he is finally asking me to pick from a list of magazines at which point I'm like "Okay wise guy, I'm not buying any magazines, out you go" I of course get a guilt trip, which I continue to refuse and he leaves.

Flash forward a year and now I am woken up by the rapid knocking of two giggling girls. Mind you I sometimes prefer to sleep in not much of anything in the summer so I quickly grab my robe and head for the door thinking it is my friend or the repairman for my air conditioner (both of which were supposed to show up today).

She starts her spiel with the "Have you voted yet?" Which of course I'm like.... uh... for what? and off she goes into her 'National Communication Contest" rant. Now mind you I'm standing there in a robe with nothing but my underoos on underneath and she begins to open my screen door to invite herself in! I look down at my robe pointedly and tell her I'm not exactly able to talk right now. She has the nerve to ask me why I answered my door if I cannot talk!!

Short and Long of it.... who are these people sending these teens out and what sort of scam is this? I'd like to expose and put an end to it if possible. I don't think it's safe or wise to be having these teens knocking down doors of complete strangers and barging into their homes. Some day it may not be the home of a pissed off half naked woman but someone who sees an opportunity to take advantge of a young girl!

Has anyone had a similar experience? Know where these people are from?

PirateJon

These are kids that have been scammed into doing a really shitty job. More here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21magcrew.html?ex=1329714000&en=1d789afbc368aa61&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=diggra

Offer them a drink or something if it's hot out. Let them use the bathroom. Depending on the person, I'd probably offer them a ride to the bus station so they can get home.

browneyedsquirrel

Wow - yeah this is exactly what the kid's spiel last year sounded like, what was shown in the movie clip. And it's exactly what I was afraid of. While I was unhappy by the behavior of the girls (I could hear them bitching about me as they walked down the stairs from my door) I'm tempted to find them and ask them who is sponsoring them.

This is a damn shame and I'm glad my parents had enough sense to never allow me to get tangled up in anything like this.

Terrible.... Terrible.

Also... the part of the video where he talks about scoping out and stealing stuff from the homes and apartments is the the exact reason I would disagree with inviting these people in. (Around 6:30mins)

I can only hope these sort of scams get exposed enough to get them halted.

JohnnyCache

These are kids that were offered a 'fun summer job with travel and people your own age' and got a hard summer job with travel and moderate-to-shitty conditions.

The 'contest' is pretty much pure bullshit sales language. The magazine distributors they sell for are sometimes fronts as well - not people you want to have your billing info.

The kids themselves, well, conditions on the tours vary a lot. Some of them are legit and kids that sell well on them make much more money then they would at burger barn, but even on the 'legit' ones, bad sellers often get treated like dogshit.

(I kept one of these people once, after inviting her in to play some red faction and going somewhat feral on her 'tour leader' but that, as mako once said in an outro, is another tale. )

Creepy

Had almost the same experience here, cept it was a very young girl and while I was politely declining she just opened the outside screen door and started coming on in.

I remember thinking that if she did that at the wrong house there was a chance she'd be having a basket lowered to her in the near future.

I'd be scared to pull something like that at a stranger's house and I don't think I'd have half as much to be worried about.

Jimmy King

Yep, we get those here, too. At my old apartment it was magazines. In my new neighborhood there's a slightly better chance that it's legit. They sell candy, etc. you pay them in cash, so no billing info and you definitely at least get the shitty candy you overpaid for. The one that gets this neighborhood is some anti-drug camp thing for teens, supposedly. Seems slightly more legit than the magazine kids, but I have my doubts.