Margie Grant thought something was fishy when a young man came to her door last week asking for donations for his baseball team to go to Tokyo.
And she wasn't the only resident of the Chancellor West neighborhood in Spotsylvania County who thought something was strange about the fundraising effort.
"Jason," who appeared to be in his teens or early 20s, has been traveling through the neighborhood collecting money, sometimes saying he is selling books, other times just asking for donations, according to residents.
'HE WAS VERY SMOOTH'
"He's attractive and preppy with his khaki shorts and hat," Grant said. "He was a nice-looking guy."
Grant said she didn't give the man any money, though, because he couldn't produce information to give her about his company.
"He just had these cards with children's books on them," she said.
The "company" the teen claimed to work for is Tuscan Reader Services, a documented scam company on Web sites like ripoffreport .com.
It is the same company 20-year-old Tasha Mitchell used as a front last year when she pulled a scam going door to door in the Fawn Lake area, posing as a high school cheerleader.
Mitchell pleaded guilty in January to four counts of obtaining money by false pretenses and is serving a year in jail for her crimes.
She had a previous record of pulling a similar scam in other states.
And not everyone was as lucky as Grant in realizing the deception while the man was at the door.
"He was very smooth," said one resident who asked not to be named.
The resident said he actually wrote a check, but after realizing the company was not legitimate, tried to cancel it with his bank.
"But now, even if it gets canceled, we're out the check canceling fee at least," he said.
NEIGHBORHOOD ON ALERT
Residents in Chancellor West became concerned last week when they began talking with one another and no one knew the man visiting their homes trying to collect money.
He claimed to be a resident of the neighborhood and told those he visited that he lived on Pathfinder's Court, one of the roads nearby.
Some residents reported that the young man claimed to be new to the area and spouted off names of other residents, saying he knew them, in hopes to gain their trust.
Judy Carlson, the secretary for the board of directors at Chancellor West, said the homeowners association sent out a warning to residents about the potential door-to-door scammer.
"We're trying to get the word out so people know what's happening in the neighborhood," she said.
1st Sgt. Liz Scott of the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office said she knows of at least one call reporting the fraudulent behavior.
That call came from a home on Lee Jackson Circle, the main area of the neighborhood that consists of about 100 lots.
They have not named any suspects or made any arrests for the fraud, Scott said.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
Email: ebiltz@freelancestar.com