Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has filed a lawsuit against a telemarketing company who allegedly placed 48,000 auto-dialed phone calls a month and used deceptive practices to bill consumers for false magazine subscriptions.
According to a media release, Burudi Mwonyonyi and his company, Publishers Service Office, Inc. allegedly bought consumers purchasing information related to magazine subscriptions and would call consumers to bill for those subscriptions.
The Attorney General's Office said Publishers Service Office, Inc. was not authorized to bill on behalf of the magazine companies, which violates the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.
The company allegedly lied to customers claiming they had previously signed a subscription agreement and that it had that document recorded. Among the other allegations, the company disguised its phone numbers to appear as if it was coming from a local area code and disguised its mailings to come from California when it really operated out of Arizona.
The lawsuit asks the court to order Publishers Service Office, Inc. to stop violating the law and pay its consumers restitution, civil penalties, the State's costs and attorney's fees, and surrender all profits related to the scam.
Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of this scam can file a complaint with the Attorney General's Office. To contact the Phoenix office call 602-542-5763. To contact the Tucson office, call 520-628-6504. If outside those two areas, call 800-352-8431.
Complaints can also be filed online.
