Maximum PC

Subscribers beware. A crooked business with a Reno, NV address has obtained names of Maximum PC subscribers and is running a scam. The company offers a two year renewal for $99.95 with an initial payment of $49.95.

This company has been discussed online at ripoffreport.com, maclife.com and several other sites. There have been many complaints to the Better Business Bureau. Suckers who have fallen for the scam report that they never received the subscription renewals they paid for.

Forum Moderator - If Maximum PC is not in bed with Publishers Billing Exchange I suggest posting a sticky to warn subscribers. MacLife moderators have posted a warning to subscribers. See Below.

http://www.maclife.com/forums/topic/96483

I just got one of these in the mail. The only thing that gave it away was the ridiculous price they were charging. My question is - how are they getting my information. They obviously know I subscribe to Maximum PC? Did they buy a list from Maximum PC?

I been a subscriber to Maximum PC for about 8 years, and I just got one of this "Notice of Renewal" to my home address...
It is extremely irritating, I knew immediately it was an scam because I always pay my subscription a couple of years ahead of time. They ask for an "installment" of $49.98 and indicate a "Total Amount" of 99.95.
What bothers me is that they know my name, home address and that I have a Maximum PC subscription.
I hope a moderator reads this posts and make an sticky at home page of forum informing subscribers of this issue.
This is my first post here and I registered for the purpose of reporting this problem, and I see that other subscribers have already started a topic on the matter, I will continue checking in here for an official response from Maximum PC.
I will continue to be a loyal subscriber to the magazine if this is handled satisfactorily.

Thanks

Jose.

I posted about this over on the Dog Pound http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=105032. I'm a little concerned that the MacLife post was almost three years ago and yet I couldn't find an answer about how our information made it into these scumbags hands.

Either they stole it, which means Future Publications should have prosecuted or Future Publications sold the subscriber list to them, which means they got burned twice by someone too lazy to change the name of the scam.

I too would like to see an explanation forthcoming from Future Publications about what is going on and what they are gonna do about it.

These 3rd parties have been doing this for a while. It's not private information, nor does Future or MPC need to sell your info in order to find out what you subscribe to.

I can only assume Future does not print a single magazine. They just give their content to the press, and it's printed. Then there may be a distributor that stamps that address into the little white box. Either of those may be easily sold I guess.

No need to get up in arms guys. Just throw it away. It's not like they have your SSN or credit card numbers. The mail you received has a name printed on it. Call them and ask how they got it.

This isn't the problem.

It's more along the lines of "where did they get this information in the first place".

Not up in arms really, and I do love the magazine, I read it back to back every time I get it... The sad thing is that unfortunately out of the lot of scam "renewal notices" they mail, some people will fall for it, that is why the keep doing it, I mean, the cost of materials and postage for thousands of pieces of mail via snail mail has got to add up, and if like you say, they been doing it for a good while, chances are is because it is effective, meaning that it yields the scammers a profit from unsuspecting subscribers, that is the sad truth...
It seems that an sticky at this forum describing the situation or even a comment in the magazine itself warning subscribers would not be too much to ask and it would be a welcome gesture, I mean, it is a magazine that many times publishes articles in spyware, and keeping your computers safe and other related safety issues, and now when a third party is using the magazines name and its subscribers database to scam and not a word about it it anywhere?
I am not up in arms, I am simply awaiting for some action from Maximum PC, it is the right thing to do.
On another quick note, I would not call this people from my home phone or cell, why? simple, they are scammers and I would simply be providing them with my home phone via Caller ID so they can ring me later with unsolicited telemarketing. You could try calling if you have an anonymous feature in your phone, otherwise, nobody should...

Jose.

Magazine subscription lists are widely available from many different sources. The REAL problem is continually getting renewal notices, for other folks or from the MAGAZINE itself. I am 2 years paid up and yet I get renewal notices with pretty much every magazine I subscribe to. Hell, even Consumer Reports sends them to me and I have a 10 year subscription!
I posted a list on a bulletin board next to my mail and print out when subscriptions are due. Also, there is usually the subscription info on the label.

When my Mom died, she had a 22 year subscription to Readers Digest as she kept mailing in a renewal every time they mailed one to her!

from my time subscribing to the magazine, the MaxPC subscription i pay for is about 24$ for 2 years. anything promoting higher than that goes right into the bin at my home. If it in fact was the publisher raising the price, i would probably cancel in due time.