Friday, August 24, 2001

TCU Police issue warnings to solicitors
By Ram Luthra
EDITOR IN CHIEF

Two men were issued criminal trespass warnings Thursday by TCU Police for soliciting students to apply for credit cards without a university-issued permit.

The men, who were not identified by the police, work for Targa Marketing, a Dallas-based company, and were giving away free T-shirts after students applied for Bank of America and Compass Bank credit card applications.

The solicitors started asking students to apply for these credit cards around 1 p.m. near Flash Photo, 2715 W. Berry St., and worked their way to University Christian Church.

Chip Pierce, manager of Flash Photo, said he called the police after he suspected a scam.

“Students are not smart enough to know whether they are being manipulated by these scam artists,” Pierce said. “(Students) give away their social security numbers, names, addresses and date of births to these people. And before you know they go to places like J C Penney where they can apply for instant credit and the student’s credit is damaged.”

Fort Worth police officer R.D. Jones, who was the first officer at the scene, doesn’t believe foul play had anything to do with it.

“Even though they did not have a permit, this looks like a legitimate deal,” Jones said. “But we won’t know until the investigators file a report.”

If the two men come back on TCU campus, they will be issued a Class B misdemeanor that carries a fine not exceeding $2,000 or confinement in jail for a term not exceeding 180 days, or both.

Ram Luthra
r.d.luthra@student.tcu.edu