Forbes, WSJ parent hit with subscription lawsuit

Forbes and Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, are being sued related to a subscription offer, reports David Siegel of Law360.com.

Siegel writes, The news “media companies provided subscription lists to Circulation Billing Services, an outside vendor, which then sent official ­looking renewal notices to the subscribers with prices higher than the newspapers’ real renewal fees, according to a complaint filed Monday on behalf of plaintiff I. Stephen Rabin. Circulation Billing would then pay the actual renewal fees directly to the newspapers and keep the excess funds.

“Despite being aware of the fraudulent activity, the newspaper companies turned a blind eye to Circulation Billing’s activities on their behalf and failed to notify their subscribers, the complaint says.

“’Defendants have knowingly permitted the names of their publications to be used by fraudsters to scam their subscribers, so they could profit from maintaining their subscriber lists inexpensively and profit from the sale of their subscription lists and other information,” Rabin’s complaint states.

“Dow Jones­-owned Barron’s ran a full page ad in November alerting subscribers to Circulation Billings’ fraudulent activity, even though the company had been aware of it for years at that point, the complaint says. A Dow Jones spokeswoman also said the Wall Street Journal ran a similar ad at the same time.”

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