Large ad for down comforter apparently a fraud
"We do take a great deal of effort and time in terms of checking out ads to make sure they are credible so our readers are not misled," said Mike Lemke, senior vice president of sales for The Seattle Times, which also represents the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "This one slipped by."
He said the company that ran the ad, Dupont Bed and Bath, went to great lengths to make the ad appear genuine.
If anything should have been a concern, it is the fact that the company's name was not on the ad, Lemke said.
Several hundred readers responded to the ad, according to a Tacoma call center named AmeriCall, which was hired to handle customer response by Dupont, the Texas company that placed the ad.
The $40,500 cashier's check Dupont sent the newspaper for the ad was counterfeit, according to Times officials. In addition, Scott Hager, the general manager of AmeriCall, said his company was out at least $3,000 for work it did for Austin, Texas-based Dupont.
Neither Dupont nor its officers could be reached for comment.
The ad said, "Down Comforter Overstock!" It offered "thousands of brand new extremely high quality designer down comforter and pillow sets that went unused by one of the nation's largest hotel chains."
Along with a toll-free number tagged "call now, supplies are limited," it listed a price of $49.95 for two king or queen down comforters and four down pillows.
One reader who responded to the ad was Mary Morris of Brier, who thought it looked "like a good deal." She said she's always been hesitant to give her credit-card number over the phone, but trusted it was a legitimate company because it ran a big ad in The Times.
Morris learned otherwise a few days later, she said, when she got a call from her credit-card company. It wanted to know if the down-comforter purchase was a legitimate transaction, Morris recounted, because the $681 charge did not fit her spending profile.
"I was very happy they called," said Morris, who is disputing the charge. She said her credit-card company was turning the matter over to its fraud department.
Morris also received a letter from AmeriCall, as did about 800 other customers who responded to the ad, according to Hager. Besides Seattle readers, his company also handled calls from customers who saw the ad in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where it appeared the same day, Hager said.
AmeriCall's letter advised customers that it had received "negative information" about Dupont Bed and Bath and had suspended providing services to Dupont because it was unable to reach the company's principals.
"We urge you to review your credit-card statement carefully and contact your card issuer promptly should you have problems receiving your merchandise," said the letter dated Nov. 12.
A Seattle couple who placed two orders said they were shocked when they received their credit-card statement showing a charge of $1,178. The couple said they are disputing the charge.
Lemke said the ad should have raised flags, but didn't because it came in so late on a Friday evening. "It was a rush job from the beginning," he said.
Lemke said fraudulent ads such as this are rare.
"I can't recall the last time an ad like this (ran) where people were misled. They (Dupont) went to extreme lengths to defraud the newspaper," he said.
He said he contacted his counterparts at 15 other metro papers to alert them to the apparent scam.
Meantime, the matter has been turned over to law enforcement. On Friday, a Seattle FBI spokesman said the case is under review.
Peter Lewis: 206-464-2217 or plewis@seattletimes.com