Renewing BJ subscription? 
Watch out for scammers!

Boy, scammers are clever.

Take the decades-old practice of offering newspaper or magazine renewals at a price that is HIGHER than what the newspaper or magazine charges.

You send in your check, the scammers forward your subscription request and pocket the difference between what you paid and what the scammers pay the newspaper or magazine. Unless customers get wise and complain, the publishers don't even know it happened.

This week five state attorneys general – from New York, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota and Missouri -- filed simultaneous fraud charges against Oregon-based Orbital Publishing, which operates under various names.

Wisconsin filed a similar suit last year.

Orbital sends out solicitations that look like they came from the newspaper or magazine, but at a price that is 15% to 40% more than you can get by contacting the newspaper or magazine directly.

Orbital’s targets have included customers of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. More than 50 newspapers had been hit. 

Newspapers have spent millions of dollars in combatting the problem, including refunding complaining customers the excess that scammers siphoned off.

The solution? If you want to renew your BJ subscription, call the BJ directly at (330) 996-3600. Cut out the middleman scammer.

To read the entire article, click on http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/330515/5-attorneys-general-take-aim-at-subscription-scam/