HUPD Warns of Subscription Scheme

A group that has been accused of defrauding college students across the country may be coming to the Boston area soon, a memo circulated earlier this week by the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) states.

"We want to alert students so they won't be open to a potential case of fraud," Saul L. Chafin, director of police and security, said yesterday, adding that HUPD is so far not actively investigating the case.

Publishers Marketing Agency, whose base is a post office box in Maitland, Fla., hires college students to travel across the country selling magazine subsciprtions, Joan Meier, a worker at the Maitland Better Business Bureau, said yesterday. In return, the students are promised money or points towards future academic scholarships, she added.

People who bought subscriptions from Publishers Marketing Agency and relatives of the students working for the group have filed the only complaints about them, Meier said, adding that they had received no complaints from employees of the group.

One student in Ohio who asked not to be identified said yesterday that her roommate had joined Publishers Marketing Agency recently but would not tell her where the group was going to sell subscriptions. "They just got into two cars and booked," she added.

The woman said the students traveled together every day and stayed at "sleazy" hotels, adding that the agency charged students for room and board.

The group, which has drawn complaints from as far west as Texas, arrived two weeks ago at Williams College, Jon Tigar, a Williams student, said yesterday. Members of the group offered students a free two-year subscription to Tennis magazine if they purchased subscriptions to any other magazine, he added.

"People got the impression they were casing the place," Tigar said, adding that college security officers had asked the group to leave. Tigar said many students at Williams had bought subcriptions from the agency.

Detective Lt. Edward Doyle, who is handling the case for the Maitland police, said yesterday that the police were filling complaints on Publishers Marketing Agency but could not prosecute the group because it is not violating any laws in Maitland.

Doyle said the Maitland chamber of commerce had advised students not to buy subscriptions from Publishers Marketing Agency. "We certainly don't endorse that group," he added.