Magazine subscriptions, fake names, and money...

I have a friend that goes to various magazines’ websites, an requests a subscription with his address and then he puts in a fake name, then chooses the “bill me” or similar option. Then, he usually gets magazines for months addresses to some random name, with the bills to accompany it.

My questions is why do the magazine publishers allow this to happen (i.e. giving their product away before payment is received)? Is it just because not enough people pull this scam to worry about? And also, will my friend eventually get busted, or do they just write it off as an expense of the trade?

–Beltbuckle

As I understand it, much of the revenue from magazines comes from advertising and indeed a lot of the magazines are given away.

One hopes that your friend is eventually busted, but I suspect that this would be hard to prove.