Scammer claims to be raising money for UD journalism program

In the latest in a series of recent magazine subscription scams, a man claiming to represent the university's journalism program sold a fraudulent magazine subscription to a student, Newark police said.

The man approached the 19-year-old female communication major at the Galleria on Main Street at about 10:30 a.m. March 26, police spokesman Cpl. Gerald Bryda said Tuesday.

The man told the student he was selling magazine subscriptions to benefit the "University of Delaware Broadcasting and Journalism School," and the student gave him $30 in cash for a subscription, Bryda said.

She realized that she had given the man the wrong zip code and e-mailed her academic advisor asking for help in correcting her address, Bryda said. The advisor told the student that the University of Delaware Broadcasting and Journalism School does not exist.

The university has a journalism department that is part of the English department. Broadcast journalism is taught in the communications department.

Late last month, the communications department sent an e-mail to all communication majors warning them of the scam.

"The Department of Communication will never require or request that students sell magazines," the e-mail read.

The incident comes just a week after university police warned students about magazine subscription scams in the city.

On March 16, two students bought subscriptions from a man who came to their off-campus house and later found out the subscriptions were fraudulent. Other students reported being approached under similar circumstances on Annabelle Street.

None of the other incidents involved the journalism program, police said.

The suspect in the March 26 is described as a white male, approximately 20 years old with a stocky build. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt.