So I'm sitting home alone watching TV and the doorbell rings, it's a 17-18 year old messy looking kid at the door so I'm confident he has nothing of interest for me so I go back to watching my TV program and he knocks on the door again persistently.

I get up and see what he wants. Now your average girl scout selling cookies or middle schooler selling whatever is usually very nervous and scared to speak to strangers. This guy on the other hand was very confident and had an elaborate story going on, he was talking VERY (i mean VERY fast) to the point it was obvious he had been practicing.

His story was rather contrived. He was in a public speaking club that went door to door earning points for a competition of 100 guys vs 100 girls, the first team to get 2000 points gets a free trip to Rome. He pulled out a gay little laminated "official document" that proved he was legit (this is when the first red flag went off in my head). So he asked me a few questions, he asked me where I worked, I told him where I worked and he said awesome you just earned me 100 points for participating, then he asked me if I was married/dating or "single and happy" I said single and he gave me a high five and told me he gets 200 bonus points for getting excited.

Then he pulls out a little brochure and says that if I want to help him win, to take a look at these magazine subscriptions. Next to each subscription there were varing numbers of "points" he would earn if I subscribed, I said no I don't need any magazines, then he says, well would you consider donating any to help us? I said no thanks and ended the conversation there.

The interesting part:
I thought little of it... until about an hour ago. I got pretty much the same exact thing except it was another kid from a "public speaking club" who was selling candy bars for points.

Now I'm thinking something is up. I look online and apparently there are traveling groups of gypsies who go around scamming people with fake magazine subscriptions and such for money, the whole operation is entirely for profit.

I got one of these. It was a girl but didn't seem nearly as rehearsed.

I bought it and the recipient never received the magazine. But it's hard to say for sure about that because I couldn't really read the address I had right.

So:

[?] scam

[ ] The interesting part

Maybe so, but the prices seem to be pretty good. I've bought from them before until my wife got a "Doctor waiting room" rate, which is usually some ridiculously low price.

Well of course none of you are going to be interesting in having this info until they come to your house then you will thank me because you will be able to tell them to F off before they waste 10 minutes of your time with their little story before trying to sell you something.

Some little "girl scout" tried to sell me cookies, but she wasn't really nervous. Having read this read I knew what was up, so I kicked her in the face, shouting "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch." I hate scammers. Serious thanks.

Yes it should not be underestimated that these people scam as a lifestyle choice, the fact that they are currently in your town should worry you at least a little for the safety of your belongings when you're not home.

Thx captain safety

I had one of these guys at my house a couple months ago. I wish I had known then it was a scam so I could have called the cops. Instead I just sat through his speech and told him to leave.

anyone else think of the strangers while reading op?

I had this happen too me a couple months ago too. The first thing I thought was this guy is way too relaxed and has this completely rehearsed speech...but he went on and on and im just like ok get to the point what is it you want me to buy, he told me and i was like no thanks and then he tries to get me with "well if you don't buy from me there are 100 other kids that are gonna be knocking on your door after me" I took my chances, no one else ever came.

PSA: The insurance on your car is going to expire.

I live in Jersey City, and it's a rare day when you're not approached by a group of black kids (omg racist ban) trying to sell you candy for the 'boys and girls club of america.' It's obviously a scam. I mean you get candy, but you pay $4 for a bag of M+Ms. They can get pretty confrontational sometimes. They figure they can just intimidate you into buying a candy.

I was in Hoboken once at the train station trying to buy a ticket from one of the self-serve kiosks. This kid came up trying to sell me Skittles and would not get the **** out of my face. I had to tell him five or six times I'm not interested in candy, and no I don't want to make a donation.

I'll never forgive my ex. We were drinking a beer at South Street Seaport once, and this kid came up with the same story. She says, "Oh, I don't have $4." He says, "Well we take donations," and SHE ****ING GAVE HIM A DOLLAR! On principle I got super pissed at how stupid she was.

keep a gun near your front door

I get this one all the time. Now that I live in a college-style apartment where my car isn't blatantly obvious I'm going to definitely call the cops next time they roll up.

I live in a duplex, in a neighborhood of duplexes. Door-to-door salespeople love hitting my neighborhood, for the very short walks between doorbells.

I bought a nice, classy, polished brass "No Soliciting" sign, and mounted it on the door, next to the doorbell. The doorbell rings much more infrequently now, but alas, the sign is not 100% effective.

I answer the door, give them a chance to assure me in five words or less that this isn't a cold call. At that time, I point to the sign that is inches away from the doorbell and interrupt them with, "Did you not see the sign? Or do you not know what the big word means?"

If you think that's rough on them, it's not as bad as what my roommate does to them. She's too timid/polite to shoo them away, so she listens politely to the entire sales pitch. But she never buys anything. She wastes much more of their time then they could ever possibly waste of mine.

When she was my wife, I would come to the door and rescue her from this nonsense by shooing the intruder away. But now that she's just my roommate, **** her, and **** the guy who rang the bell. They deserve each other.

Try hitting her.

I had the misfortune of falling for this same spiel the year after I graduated college. The year was 1979.

When I make the mistake of answering the door and it is one of these scam artists I tell them I'm in the middle of an online poker tourney and can't talk to them. That's if I'm in a friendly mood.

Like one of these kids would get more than 10 seconds of my time before I close the door.

I bought magazines from a door-to-door kid back in college. He was trying for some trip or whatever. I actually received the magazines, albeit something like 12 weeks later. So I guess not all of them are scammers.

The sign is also effective if I have lost your address and am less than 100% sure I am at the right door since they all look the same.

fyp cause my work cell gets these all the damn time

My sophomore year of high school i went door to door selling espn magazine subscriptions for our baseball team. I knocked on this one door, and a 50 year old bald man in a suit sweating profusely came outside and put a gun to my head.

I just now realize that he was probably a nice guy, but had just been scammed one to many times.

Awesome. is there a thread on this?