I'm embarrassed to say I fell for this scam too. Like others here I was approached by two clean-cut, very polite boys selling magazines to finance a trip to London to play in a soccer championship. They said they had just won the state championship and they were in last Sunday's local newspaper (which oddly they didn't have with them). I hadn't seen the paper and I like to donate money each year to the troops overseas so when they mentioned I could donate the magazines to them I felt I would be helping a local school's soccer team and our troops.

While the one boy delivered his pitch I felt something wasn't quite right but I kept telling myself I was being paranoid. Stupidly I allowed these boys into my home. When I asked what school they attended they said they were both home schooled. Luckily I didn't have any cash so I wrote two checks (later canceled) to Prestige USA, which seemed odd since you would think one check would be fine for the same charitable cause. Also, one boy had me put the magazine names in the memo field while the other had me write in the numbers of the receipts he provided. This seemed odd too since most charities I've donated to do things consistently. But I kept telling myself I was being paranoid.

After they left I looked up Prestige USA and found the many posts on this site along with other sites. I immediately canceled the checks; better to be out $32 than a few hundred. It's really a shame because I like to give to charitable causes but people like this make you think twice, or not answer your door at all.