On reading the full-page ad in Wednesday’s Bangor Daily News, I reacted with confusion, disbelief and a bit of outrage. I knew I would have to question the editors on this and expected they might respond defensively; I did not expect they would be contrite.
The ad in question offered sheets of uncut dollar bills “at face value,” contingent on buying three “protective banker’s portfolios” at a cost of $29 each plus shipping. The ad said “smart collectors are snatching up all the valuable uncut sheets of Gov’t issued money they can get their hands on,” although a disclaimer at the bottom admitted there’s no guarantee of increased future value.
Such a come-on probably would have been dismissed, if what was clearly labeled an advertisement had not looked, to the casual reader, like a news story. “Bangor area zip codes turn up cash for residents,” cried the headline under the large photo of uniformed guards wheeling around loads of the bill sheets. A Google search of the headline wording — minus the Bangor reference — yields hundreds of communities where similar ads have run in the United States and Canada.
Those ads have drawn fire from consumer groups and authorities alike. Last November, the Better Business Bureau reported more than 200 consumer complaints involving World Reserve Monetary Exchange, which placed the BDN ad. According to the Better Business Bureau many of those complaining said the ads were misleading. The bureau noted the ads suggest the offer is limited to a specific geographic area, which is not the case. A supposed time limit on the offer also created a false sense of urgency.
In January, a California lawsuit against Universal Syndications Inc., doing business as World Reserve Monetary Exchange, and Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings CEO Rodney Napier was settled. The firm was accused of falsely advertising “free” gold coins; it was ordered to pay $223,000 in civil penalties and court costs and to reimburse some buyers. The company also is banned from advertising in California the gift of a free item with the purchase of another item, unless it really is free.
We did some digging to find all this out. The Bangor Daily News did some initial vetting when the ad order came in. Steve Martin, BDN’s interim director of sales and marketing, told me the vetting process in this case wasn’t thorough enough.
Martin said the ad won’t be run again. In fact, he’s asking the ad agency that sent it not to send any similar ads to the paper.
“The sources [of such ads] are getting craftier and craftier” in their efforts to make ads look like news coverage, Martin said. He added the paper takes very seriously its duty not to mislead the public, and said every effort will be made to distinguish advertising from news copy in the future.
After spending most of my career as a working reporter, I know how these things can happen. We applaud the BDN for admitting a mistake and working to make sure it’s not repeated.
Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast CONTACT, Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit consumer organization. Individual and business memberships are available at modest rates. For assistance with consumer-related issues, including consumer fraud and identity theft, or for information, write Consumer Forum, P.O. Box 486, Brewer 04412, or go to necontact.wordpress.com, or email contacexdir@live.com.
Russ, your article is interesting! How about this one we ran across in our state? Through a friend of my husband’s, my husbands cell phone rang one day last year and the skeptical caller explained he has World War I Treaty documents, including securities in a sealed, metal box worth over several million dollars, plus counterfeit US Dollars among other items of interest. My husband played along with this syndicated scheme just long enough to take the material to the US authorities, who knew of the scheme and just told my husband to save the documents as memories. Nothing happened of the syndicate people who, I guess, blew the area and their whereabouts were never known again. However, scams and people making counterfeit documents are playing Tom Foolery with the (some) unsuspecting people who fall for such stupidity. Only the US Government sells their own securities, like stamps, coins and such; if the items are real, that is. Any others, except antique dealers, museums, and validated sellers can be relied on most of the time. That mentioned, BDN, as most of us need to do , do thorough homework if the deal is too good to believe! By the way, we still remember your dad and mom, “Al and Aileen” very well, and their WLBZ program and the nice white house along US1 near Veazie.
If someone tells you that their coins, bills or gold items, etc. are worth more than your money (even with the added shipping and handling), why are they selling them? And how would they have bought them for even less if the idea was just to make a quick profit??
And so soon after the Isleboro fiasco. Perhaps Mr. Martin should go back to telling jokes and playing his banjo.