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Scam alert! Beware door-to-door sales people in Bluffton The arrests follow a busy week of tracking down young adults who posed as college students selling subscriptions to raise money for a class trip.
Bluffton Police tracked down and fined 11 employees of Xtreme Marketing in Georgia a total of $2,800 on Friday and told them to leave town.
The pushy salespeople told residents they earned points for selling the subscriptions on behalf of area colleges. That was not true, authorities have said.
Instead, the companies cater to young adults looking to make money and travel the country. There are widespread stories of unethical business practices by such companies posted on several scam-related Internet sites.
On Saturday afternoon, a fresh batch of salespeople were back in town with the same shtick, this time from Great Lakes Circulation in Colorado, said Sgt. Bryan Norberg, spokesman for the Bluffton Police Department.
"For some reason, they didn't read the paper," said Norberg, referring to the publicity garnered by the first 11 arrests.
Four of the door-to-door employees were arrested in neighborhoods along Buckwalter Parkway. Each were fined $257.
Two others were fined Saturday afternoon for violating a state solicitation law that prevents people from soliciting on state highways. The pair was collecting cash donations from motorists, allegedly for a Christian organization, at the intersection of U.S. 278 and Simmonville Road, said Norberg. He said he did not know the name of the organization.
In Bluffton, people selling items or services in public must have a business license and a permit to go door-to-door. Charities collecting in public must also have a license.
Norberg hopes the town gets a reputation for its zero tolerance toward door-to-door salespeople. That's the only way to keep them from coming back.
"It's a quality of life issue," he said. "If you let the small stuff in, eventually you'll get some real professional scam artists who come in."
