Dumb Criminal Series: When Newspaper Subscriptions Jump From 65 To 2,781 Someone May Get Suspicious
from the no-one-will-notice dept
Romenesko points us to a good one for the "dumb criminal" series. A NY Times delivery carrier has been accused of defrauding the paper of over $300k by sending in fake newspaper subscriptions with the "bill me later" option checked. Apparently, he got paid based on the number of papers delivered, so he took the quick route to increasing his income. In a matter of months, his daily subscriptions jumped from 65 to 2,781 and his Sunday subscriptions went from 103 to 2,818 (seems that nearly everyone of the fake subbers signed up for Sunday deliver as well!).It makes you wonder how he thought he could get away with such a scam, though his "defense" gives some suggestion. He says he had someone else doing the deliveries for him, and says it must be that guy's fault. Though, as the newspaper noted, when the NY Times grew suspicious and informed him that they were canceling thousands of subscriptions, he "did not seem upset and said it would not affect his workload." Oh yes, also there was the fact that the guy's recycling bins were filled to the brim with copies of the newspaper -- often still wrapped in their delivery bundles.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: newspapers, scams, subscriptions
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
It's Where They Belong....
I can't figure out why the idiots in America won't read my rag. My dad and his dad always had lots of fools subscribing to our Democratic party newsletter, but it must be Fox New's fault that subs are down.
How the heck will I ever survive on just 200 million?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It's Where They Belong....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: It's Where They Belong....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It's Where They Belong....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: It's Where They Belong....
Coward: Why don't you give China and Russia your Great tactics after their attacked ( ohhhh that's right their not attacked because the terrorists know they'll blow up their whole dam Country )
GAAD what wimps, The WW11 Generation wouldn't ; If you were on fire !!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Honestly, I think the baby boomer generation screwed us. Compare society now to pre-WWII and you pretty much see the difference between a society that knows how to work and (overall) know the difference between right and wrong.
As another example, post Pearl Harbor the entire nation pretty much went to war and we joined WWII. Like many WWII vets say, "it was different, we were attacked." Another nation struck us and we came together to rise up and take them down. Why did they do that? Because it was the right thing to do.
Compare this to 9/11. Civillians are attacked rather than military target and we seem to get confused. There is no clear enemy. This was a CRIME, but not a WAR crime.
On top of that, many people who joined the military right then felt they had to not because it was The Right Thing To Do, but because its what their ancestors did in WWII. People are too locked into the past, too afraid of change for them to move forward and do what needs to be done.
Apathy, the greatest gift you can give to tyranny, rules this nation. Self importance is now our motto. The actions of the past now justify any and all behavior in the future.
The Founding Fathers would be ashamed of this America. You should be too, and when the time comes you should be ready to fight for her. For the America that was intended, not the one that has become.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Every age has its challenges. Don't be a whining part of the problem. Ranting on message boards about how shitty the world has become helps no one.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:Re:volution
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ha
Our society continually encourages people to find the quickest way to the easiest money. You reap what you sow. Maybe if we were more interested in...you know...doing something productive and helping our fellow citizens, this kind of foolishness wouldn't happen as much.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
We are at war with each other. That is the way of International Multi-Conglomerate Capitalism. Yes, we are encouraged to make as much money as quickly as we can to feed the Corporate Mega Machines....our masters.
This is easily seen in the previous Techdirt rant on Pharma Patents. The pharmaceutical companies which are here only because of us and should us "their power" for our good now hold our lives ransom. They are made up of people just like you and I after all. Brother against brother.....
Anyway...the original story was pretty funny :)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sucks
thankyou
lots of love
hayley
xoxo
[ link to this | view in chronology ]