Faking Authority
The Attorney General of Indiana announced that it:"has filed a lawsuit against Peoria, Illinois based Liberty Publishing, Inc (Liberty), d/b/a Booster Club Promotions, for misrepresenting its relationship with Indiana schools. Businesses in Hendricks, Lake, and Marion Counties had been contacted by the company and told that proceeds from the sale of advertisements would benefit the local high school and/or the local high school booster club. Businesses paid for advertisements on posters displaying the schedules of local high school athletic teams, but the schools didn't get proceeds from the ad sales.
"This company capitalized on the generosity of local businesses, which are always eager to support their local high school and its athletic program," Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter said. "By falsely representing that local schools would benefit from the proceeds of advertisements, this company took advantage of what is a Hoosier tradition, pride and support in our communities' school system." (my emphasis)
This is a standard trick with vending machine scams, which are constantly being touted as being in some relation with a charity. Charities themselves are another black hole when it comes to doing due diligence. With the event of do it yourself press releases, a business opportunity scammer can "release" a press piece about doing business with a well established charity, steal some photos from the charity website, and insert the entire piece trumpeting their new found relation on their own website. Only someone with a serious warped sense of skepticism would go to the bother of checking out the press release: such a person is not a candidate for the con criminal's phantom dream in the first place.
Technorati Tags: local high school, local schools, indiana schools, indiana attorney, proceeds, advertisements, liberty publishing, booster club, peoria illinois, benefit, club promotions, ad sales, marion counties, steve carter, hoosier
