
DATE: Friday, May 23, 1997                  TAG: 9705230707

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   65 lines

FTC SWEEP NETS BEACH MAGAZINE TELEMARKETER

Federal regulators on Thursday announced a national crackdown on several magazine telemarketers, including one in Virginia Beach, saying the companies have bilked tens of thousands of customers.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint in federal court this month against Apex Marketing Group, located off Independence Boulevard near Mount Trashmore. After hearing evidence, a U.S. District judge in Norfolk ordered Apex to close its doors pending an investigation.

The complaint alleges that Apex misled, badgered and defrauded customers. The Federal Trade Commission cites several examples:

During cold calls to their homes, customers were told they had won prizes. Many times, they never received them.

Several people discovered that Apex had debited their credit-card or checking accounts without authorization.

The company billed several customers' credit-card or bank accounts for ``vastly inflated amounts'' for magazines - more than the full cost of the magazine subscriptions offered by publishers.

Apex told customers it would sue to collect its money, even though the company never planned to do this, the FTC said. Apex employees also would call, pretending to be a collection agency or an attorney, the agency said.

A former Apex employee told a reporter that he called customers anytime from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., and ``almost every day until I got an answer.''

``My worst one was . . . a lady,'' said the former employee, who asked not to be identified. ``She was sobbing. She was an older lady, all confused. It was rough.''

Company officers Thomas P. Johnson and Thomas Alan Blair could not be reached Thursday.

FTC and state officials declined to comment specifically on Apex's case, saying information was still sealed in U.S. District Court. As of Thursday afternoon, it wasn't clear when those papers would be made public.

It also wasn't clear why the FTC released a statement Thursday detailing the complaint while the case was sealed.

In other actions, the FTC filed complaints against National Scholastic Society Inc. of Ramsey, N.J.; and Mag-Topia Inc. of Santa Ana, Calif.

As part of the same crackdown, state officials have targeted three other companies. They are Publishers Direct Services of St. Paul, Minn.; United Publishers Service Inc. of Monroeville, Pa.; and Kevin Kay Lipsitz of Staten Island, N.Y., doing business as Krazy Kevin's Magazine Club and other names.

``We should all be skeptical when strangers call, telling us we've won a prize or qualify for a free gift,'' said Jodie Bernstein, an FTC official. ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC

HOW TO AVOID BEING SCAMMED

Listen carefully to sales pitches for magazine subscription

deals. They could be from con artists who want to trick you into

paying hundreds of dollars for multi-year subscriptions.

Ask questions to make sure you understand the deal.

If you're not interested, tell the caller to put you down on a

``Do Not Call'' list. If they continue to call, hang up. They're

breaking the law.

Ask for a written copy of the contract - and read it carefully -

before you agree to buy.

Do the math. You could end up paying hundreds of dollars for

subscriptions that sell somewhere else for less.