I was the direct target of a scam! I guess I should feel slighted but I do not, and maybe much of that is because of the exciting news that I was a victim of this cleaning agent chicanery. Sometime back in late March a woman walked door-to-door in my neighborhood. I just finished a run with the dog when I opened my garage door to hear a voice behind me. It was a woman in her late twenties selling a cleaning product. She proceeded to demonstrate its quality on the windshield of my car. She said she was pregnant, working her way through college back in West Virginia. Since I am in Idaho, I thought to myself, West Virginia is a long way from home to be selling cleaning products. Luckily for her, I hail from Maryland, so I could strike up a few names of some towns in West Virginia for conversation. She moved on from that quickly, and proceeded with telling me the benefits of this cleaning fluid. To make a long story short, I bought some of the cleaning product, and it works wonders on my windows, mirrors, and floors. It is pet safe, so the dog does not need to fear contaminating her paws and fur with other cleaning agents. I am happy with the product, and quite amused knowing I have been pleasantly scammed.

Here is the article from one of Boise's reputable news sources, KTVB, channel 7. The actual link requires one to log into their site. I find that annoying, but I will provide that link anyway. On another note, when we first moved to Boise, we noticed from watching the local news that they seem to misspell and misuse words frequently. Take notice of the first quotation in this article. I am not sure the word "schugran" exists. Perhaps the writer is merely translating the dialect of the speaker into a more modern, or acceptable form of English. Much to my chagrin, it is my local news channel, so please be patient with us.

Boise police warn of door-to-door scam
12:08 PM MDT on Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Ysabel Bilbao
Idaho's NewsChannel 7

BOISE -- Boise police say nearly three dozen door-to-door sales people have been targeting Boise homes and illegally selling products.

Police say the product is legitimate, but the approach is not.

A handful of people have been cited and officers hope this effort will run the illegal soliticers out of town.

"We were sitting down for a family dinner and there was a knock on the door relatively late at night, probably eight, much to the schugran of my family, I answered the door," said Jason Blumberg, purchased cleaning products.

On the other side, was a young girl who claimed to be pregnant and selling cleaning supplies to make money for college.

"They said, it slices, dices, cuts and peals, it can do anything, cleans anything," Blumberg said.

Jason says he tried to go back to his dinner, but the persistent peddler, would not back off.

"They were pretty forceful. I told them I was in dinner and didn't have the time, and they stuck their foot in the door and insisted on a product demonstration,” Blumberg said.

Jason purchased a $40 bottle of cleaning product and received a handwritten receipt.

"She looked disadvantaged, Midwest college, I wanted to help out," Blumberg said.
And he wasn't alone.

"I happened to see the invoices when she blanketed the neighborhood and I saw ten names that I recognized on there," Blumberg said.

"We consider their business to be legitimate, but they may give you a sales line that is not legitimate," said Lt. Kent Lipple, Boise police.

Lt. Lipple says just this weekend, Boise police cited nine people out of a group of 30 for selling cleaning products and magazines without a license.

Some are just barely over 18 and many not much older than their mid-20's. Lipple says they were traveling in a group of vehicles with Texas license plates.

"They are like any town fly-by-night operation, they are in town to make a quick buck," Lipple said.

Boise police have the vendors order forms and confiscated nearly $600 in cash and checks. Money lipple says he hopes to get back to residents.

"We saw receipts from Ontario, Oregon; Bend, Oregon; from all around the Northwest, not just Boise," Lipple said.

Lipple says it is important that residents ask to see the salesperson’s vendor license.

He says if they are legitimate, they will quickly present you with one. If they do not have one, don't buy the product.

Of course there are going to be Girl Scouts or kids selling items for school coming to your door. They do not need licenses.

As for the people cited over the weekend. Police don't know for sure, but they suspect some of them could have been involved in a number of burglaries.