I use checks only to pay our utility bills, nothing else. One day, however, I made a mistake. A big one. A very personable young woman came to our door. She was selling magazines, and had quite the spiel (she was working to go to school, learning to be responsible, yada yada yada). I agreed to purchase the least expensive subscription, and wrote a check for the amount (I declined to pay the $15 "handling" fee mentioned on the order form, which should have set off alarms in my brain). After she left I began to feel uncomfortable, and I looked Connection 2000 Inc. up on the Internet. All I found were complaints from people who had paid a lot more money than I had (and had forked over the mysterious handling fee) yet had never received any magazines. When I could find no other info about the company -- only complaints -- I decided to stop payment on the check. Two weeks later, someone used a fake check with my name and account number to purchased $207.55 worth of goods in a WalMart in another state. Luckily, I discovered this the day after the check was passed, and immediately had the account shut down. Today I received a notice saying that the thieves had attempted to pass two more checks but were refused.

What breaks my heart is that if you are reading this you probably know all about the trouble Connection 2000 Inc. will bring to your door. But you can tell your friends: If a salesperson from this company shows up at your door, send her on her way and then call the police and tell them where she is.