APD ALERT - Magazine/Book Sellers Going Door to Door

Good morning Foothills Area Command Community Leaders, Neighborhood Association/HOAs, Neighborhood Watch Block Captains and Apartment Community Managers,

I have received a report of a team working the North East Area Command selling books and magazines for a competition door-to-door. The North East Area Command and the Foothills Area Commands with APD usually share common crime issues and if one Area Command experiences something, it ends up in the other one. Let’s work together through both Area Commands and push these scammers out of our entire city.

This team is asking our community members to give them a blank check (!), or to write a check for children’s books cost $46-100 each and claiming it is a tax write-off and the buyer will be reimbursed. They say they will provide the buyer with a receipt – anyone can write out a receipt, it doesn’t mean it’s worth the paper they write it on. They are applying pressure and claiming they are part of a competition. Please do not fall for this scam!!!

If you are approached by these people, please contact APD’s non-emergency line 242-COPS (2677) and provide our operators with a description from a safe place. If they are on foot or in a vehicle and direction of travel helps as well as the usual gender, age, height, weight, hair/eyes, any tattoos/scars/marks/piercing, clothing descriptions, what they are carrying, etc. Please acknowledge your presence if you are home and they are on your porch ringing your doorbell; I don’t want them to assume your home is unoccupied and target you for a residential burglary. They sound like scam artists to me, but I want you to be protected on every level I can possibly provide.

Here’s the description provided by one of the North East Area Command citizens:
Male 5’9”, a little heavy, wearing striped shirt and jeans
Female, 5’6”, brown hair, jeans with holes in them, red sweatshirt
No city permits
Both in their 20’s
Sorry, no street or general area provided, but very good information
I don’t know if they are in a vehicle or were dropped off and picked up


Door to door solicitors must have a City of Albuquerque permit in order to operate and the rules are each solicitor must have the permit on their person and a photo ID. If you want to participate with charity drives, do your homework and thoroughly research the organization before giving away your hard-earned dollars for well-intentioned causes. Feel free to have an officer dispatched; if you need to talk to the officer ask for ‘contact’ from the dispatcher. Thanks for all you do to help our officers and your neighbors.

Stay safe,

Jill Garcia, Crime Prevention Specialist
Foothills Area Command, Albuquerque Police Department
12800 Lomas Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87112
jcgarcia@cabq.gov
332-5240 Front Office
323-4644 Direct Line
332-5249 Fax

The things that matter most begin at the grassroots level -- consider forming a Neighborhood Watch group on your block today!