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This is reprinted here without permission under the Fair Use Doctrine. Originally published on the internet at http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=2887773&nav=5D7vVrw0
© Copyright 2005, KRON 4. All rights reserved.

Consumers in the Bay Area in the last week have received an important-looking delivery letter, in deceptive Federal Express-type colors.

"That's a new class of mailing," comments Pat Wallace. As President of the Oakland Better Business Bureau he knows a scam when he sees one, and this one definitely falls into the category. "It says 'second notice' on it. It's not a second notice. There was no first notice."

Inside is an urgent message to his wife Dorothy. Wallace reads it, "Dear Dorothy, we have been trying to reach you -- nobody has been trying to reach Dorothy -- regarding your million dollar sweepstakes."

Wallace pulls out his magnifying glass to show us why, in very small print, Dorothy will never strike it rich this way. "You'll see there's a one in 50 million chance of winning this money. Now that's compared to one in 13 or 14 million at the lotto. How many people you know that have won the lotto?"

So whats the letter all about? It's actually from a telemarketing firm in Florida that sells magazines. And as you can see when you check it out online, there are many complaints. The National Magazine Exchange will pitch you on dozens of magazines with subscriptions lasting years. Big bucks, all to be paid upfront.

"All of a sudden your bathroom is being flooded with magazines, you can't read them all and you can't get out of the subscriptions," says Wallace. Instead, he suggests getting your magazine deals the old fashioned way: shake them out of a magazine. "You'll find all this stuff that falls out and what you will be offered. Invariably it's 50% off. It's really the only way to buy a magazine."

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