It continues

There were no comments on this blog for quite a while, so I did not keep it up. Apologies.  I can see that there was a surge of posts.

My Dad has been living in a nursing home for two years.  Amazingly, we keep getting this type of mail for him, generally in batches.You would think that they would take him off the mailing list.

What is sad is that he was swindled out of most of his savings.  While many may say that he did this himself, the problem was that he was entering dementia and we didn't realize it.  He worked very hard to hid his confusion, so it was too late by the time we took charge.  Had I known the symptoms of mild dementia and had watched him closely, we would are a room in the nursing home.

What comes in the mail after a week away

Being gone for one week, the stack of junk mail grew:

• American Indian Education Foundation solicitation for donations, which includes bios of recipients.  The Better Business Bureau review states American Indian Education Foundation (a.k.a. American Indian Relief Council) it does not meet accountability standards #11 (board accountability) and #13 (accuracy of expenses).  

• M3 Profit Accelerator, P.O. Box 243805, Boynton Beach, FL 33424.  This group promises a 2.034% return by November. They've identified the next "Google": Clicker (CLKZ.OB), which trades around $1.25 and hasn't made a profit in the last three years. Looks alot like a pump and dump scenario. Gosh, we can subscribe to the newletters for $1,495 for one year, $2,395 for two years.

• Prospector Newsletters, P.O. Box 1081, Moline, Il 61266, promoting what Barrick Gold Corporation, ABX, might buy..  Amarok Resources, AMOK.OB, with a price of $1.23.  We can subscribe for $129 for one year -- and this includes the Mutual Fund Prospector.  No thanks.

• Erik Dickson, P. O. 243805, Boynton Beach, FL 33424. [Note: the is the same address as "M3 Profit Accelerator]  He is promoting a penny stock, CrowdGather, CRWG.OG, which trades around $1.06.  No profits and most of its assets are intangibles.... no prospects. Gosh, we can subscribe for $495 for one year -- or 2 years for $840. What a deal.

• The Douglas Report -- again. 702 Cathedral St. Baltimore, Maryland 21201. For $74 we can subscribe and find out the real scoop on doctors.

• Dr. Jonathan Wright's Nutrition & Healing, 702 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. By reading his newsletters ($74 per year), you can cure skin cancer, increase your muscles, and reverse osteoporosis.Can't wait.

• Dr. Nan Kathryn Fuchs, P. O. Box 8051, Norcross, Georgia 30091-8051 sends up the "Journal of Natural Medicine," with a promotion for pills to help with digestion.  Onely $209.70 for 6 bottles of  pills (with 2 free) that contain herbal remedies.

• Real Cures, P. O. Box 8051, Norcross, Georgia 30091-8051, which will help us remove arthritis permanently.  We can also learn how to cure allergies, prevent cancer, reduce blood pressure, lose weight, correct memory problems, and stop macular degeneration. Gosh, this is a miracle. Too bad that these newsletters -- at $57 per year -- won't do any of these.

• Department of Health Sciences, 819 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, promises to help you discover what doctors don't want you to know. Sounds like a department at a medical school or university? Sure does. Is it? no.  The "Department of Health Sciences" resides in a renovated home in Baltimore, along with Agora, Publishing Services, LLC, and International Living. Check out the BBB review of Agora -- and then keep you money.

• Police Family Survivors Fund, American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens.  We've seen this before -- not a charity with high ratings for truly helping others.

• Juvenon Inc. P. O. Box 432, Manteno, Illinois 60950-9910, promoting pills that "can end aging". They have peppered the Internet with glowing reviews of the pills. They are wise to the search for "juvenon" with "scam" -- with lots of promotional "reviews" that end up in this search.  Smart work -- but it still doesn't make their claims valid.  There is no scientific evidence to back the claims, and this is a diet supplement, not a drug, so it is under the FDA radar.

Thinking of taking dietary supplements? Get the facts from the National Institutes of Health.

Pill pushing from "Schweiz Health"

Yesterday we got a newsletter from

Schweiz Health
655 Mulberry Road
Manteno, Il 60950-990

The approach of this is to promote its pills, which promise to extend your life (I got a kick out of the picture of a gray haired guy giving a piggy back to a gray haired lady -- gosh, these pills must be great!).  These newsletters appeal to the desire to stay young -- fixing backs, relieving sluggishness, preventing colds, and feeling young.  It will only cost you $60.

This company shares an address/identity with Bio Medical Solutions, Nutricell, Threesource, and Feenix LLC.

If I interpret the websites related to this miracle drug, it is basically fish oil, like the stuff you can buy at the grocery store.  Want to try fish oil?  You can do it at a lower cost by buying it locally.

National Foundation for Cancer Research: Careful out there!

Today brought a solicitation for the "2010 Annual Fund Drive" for the National Foundation for Cancer Research.  Address:

P.O. Box 96024
Washington D.C.

Well, a check with Charity Navigator turns up interesting information: 

• Charity Navigator rates this charity with one star.  Why?  Consider that the organization pays only about one-third for cancer research -- the rest is for administrative expenses and fundraising expenses. 
• Take a look also at the salaries of itst administrators -- too high for what this organization does.

What is the gimmick they offer?  Free mailing labesl of course.  Well, Dad has received thousands of mailing labels from organizations like this.  They tracked his address when he moved this past year and now he has lots of address labels that we simply have to throw out.  What a waste.  Why do they do this? Because it is an attempt to make you feel guilty -- you may want to donate if they are giving you something.  Problem is, so many organizations use this approach that those on the mailing list get far too many labels.

Again, an imitation of a Social Security form -- wanting your money

Today brought a swarm of mail.  We got another appeal from "Dr. Sjuggerud" for getting Social Security benefits that we didn't know we were entitled to (and actually are not entitled to -- but it will cost us $49 to find out).

The address of this scammer:

Attn Dr. Sjuggerud
P.O. Box 925
Frederick, MD 21705-9913

Look familiar? Yep -- we get other "great" offers from this same group -- just under different names.

Hampshire Laboratories: Cures for Prostate and a "Testosterone Lifter"

Ohm gosh, today we got two envelopes:

HLI
4828 Park Glen Road
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416

Wm J. Hartman
4848 Park Glen Road
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416

The first one will lift your testosterone, and the second one will keeping you from peeing all night.  This all comes from Hampshire Laboratories.  These "cures" according to the disclaimer are not "cures".  So what are they?  A waste of a lot of money.  $119.95 plus shipping for fixing your testosterone and $119.95 to fix your peeing.

So who are "Hampshire Laboratories"? and William J. Hartman? There is not much available.  Hampshire Laboratories sells herbal remedies that they claim (without evidence) fix your health problems.  The promotional materials even have reference lists that make things look very scientific.

• For a "ha ha" moment, check out a lawsuit against Hampshire Laboratories.

Do these pills work? consider Antiiva, which is not necessarily safe and effective.

The tactics used in these promotions are the scare tactics used by many others:  "What the doctors won't tell you..." method of sales.

Douglass Report ... Again

These folks don'w give up.  Time to renew, again.  Since we've never subscribed, it is interesting that we keep getting the renewal notice.   This newsletter promises:

• "CONQUER you dreaded urge to go" [Buy UroLogic for only $279.70]
• "The truth about male menopause" [Subscribe and learn other medical news]
• "Toe-curling, PRIMAL SCREAM SEX is yours for the taking!" [Buy Ultra Turbo HG for only $99.70]

The mailing address is the same as many other "cures", but a different "company" name:

  Real Advantage Nutrients
  P.O. Box 970
  Frederick, MD 21705-9913

The problem, of course, is that you won't know the ingredients of these pills until you receive them (and only if they feel like disclosing them), so you do not know if they are safe drugs or whether there are interactions with any other medicines.  This is an especially important issue for the elderly because they are more likely to be already taking prescriptions, and the chance of interactions is high.

A related company, NorthStar Nutrition (same address) sells Urologic -- but the link for the ingredients and dosage conveneintly do not work. [Gosh, the testimonials link does work]. Looking at other pills sites, the pills contain a "proprietary blend" of "Three-leaf caper (Opteva)(Crateva nurvala)(stem bark) Horsetail (Equisetum arvense)(herb) Silica (as colloidal anhydrous)". Got that?

FDA: Where are you?