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Show 1 Postal Inspectors Continue ! To Press Swindlers Consumers complaints com-plaints about work-at-home swindles increased in-creased significantly over the last year, partly in - response to Postal Inspection Service investigations that put 3,500 such promoters out of business, according to Pleasant Grove Postmaster Post-master Donald F. Keele. The postmaster made . the announcement in connection with Consumer Con-sumer Protection Week, April 25-May 1. "One of the most daring of these swindlers swin-dlers recently went to federal prison in the Midwest." Mr. Keele said, "after he was convicted on mail fraud in the sale of a book entitled, 'How to Make Money at Home.'" Bruce Reusch of Milford, Ohio, placed advertising in national tabloids, such as "The Star," the "Globe" and the "National Enquirer" offering work at home stuffing envelopes. "He promised that earnings of $400 to $700 weekly could be realized," the postmaster said, "but the only record of any earnings involved was. the $235,000 Reusch's United Publishing Company took in." The postmaster said during a search of the company's records, postal inspectors found Reusch was using the stolen letterhead of the Postal Inspector in Charge at Cincinnati, Ohio, to ward off complaints. A San Francisco, California, operator -Lawrence Phillips - also used national advertising ad-vertising to take at least $300,000 from 25,000 people who paid a $12 fee for his envelope stuffing scheme. Phillips suggested that those who responded to his ad similarly solicit their own "home workers." Six others who took his advice were, like Phillips, the subject of a "mail stop order." Phillips repeatedly promised to stop claiming buyers could earn between $180 and $500 a week by stuffing envelopes for his Phillips Envelope Company, but it wasn't until a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that his business collapsed. "What we continue to see," the postmaster said, "is the claim that there is a market for doing a particular type of work in your home where, in fact, there is none, or that the promoter will buy the finished product when, in fact, the promoter will not." Mr. Keele said the elderly or those who cannot leave their homes because of some illness or injury are at the top of the list of victims. A brochure prepared by the Postal Service outlining the pitfalls of work-at-home promotions promoti-ons is available in post offices. |
