Hello everyone, just wanted people to watch out for a door-to-door magazine salesman who is most likely a big scam. I currently am in the Lake Hills neighborhood near Bellevue College.
A man in a dress shirt and tie came to my front door, knocked very loudly and I opened the door anyways despite seeing him on my Ring doorbell camera and clearly seeing that he was some sort of solicitor.
He was from “Summit Reader’s Circle” and had a folder with lots of notes and papers with scribbled writing all over them. He was claiming to be doing “charity” that delivers magazines to subscribers for multiple years. He said he was trying to meet quota so that he could be done with his workday. Each subscriber apparently gave him a certain number of “donation points” which he had to work towards.
He also shared with me his upbringing & struggles of trying to find a job after getting caught up in the legal system, he asked me about what I do and how I was able to “make something of myself in life”. Somehow I could tell that he wasn’t from a religious organization, but I still got creepy vibes so I kept all my answers at a very high level & vague.
I wanted to just give him a small donation but he soon calculated what donation amounts he was getting from other people around Bellevue (all were $600-$4000).
I told him I did not have that much money to just donate to him and he got defensive; saying stuff like, “man, why you got me opening my folder and get my hopes up after saying things like “I will donate” but now you sayin’ have no money?” while giving me a very serious stare. This guy was physically shorter than me but way more fit/muscular, so quite intimidating.
I asked what the absolute minimum I can give is and he said $300, so I gave in and said I’d do it (I was just wanting to get rid of him at this point and didn’t want to hear any more aggressive/defensive comments). I gave him my cell number but wrote down a different mailing address than my house.
I went inside promising to bring out a check for him, but realized I shouldn’t be giving any banking information. So I found $300 in cash and gave it to him. The guy was pleased and left. He said he was heading to Portland next which is funny because I found a very similar story from a different Redditor here: https://old.reddit.com/r/olympia/comments/cdy968/doortodoor_charity_magazine_sales_scam_optimum/
I probably shared too much personal information with him and now concerned because he also knows exactly where I live is plus my phone number. I’m probably being a bit paranoid but I hope my experience helps someone else out.
If you see anybody soliciting, just don’t answer the door. Most likely a scam!
submitted by /u/Youaresowronglolumad
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