Delivery Man Arrested for Scamming New York Times

A 50-year-old Wisconsin paper boy who tried to get a life (thank you) by billing the Times for thousands of fake subscriptions is now charged with wire fraud. Martin Holtet of La Crosse, Wis. allegedly created 8,500 fictitious New York Times readers to help boost his sales numbers; lawyers for the Times say the company then paid him $227,000 to deliver the papers, which he recycled instead. The Times also claims it lost almost $100,000 in printing expenses, and of course the Sulzbergers will want something for the emotional trauma suffered after discovering they have 8,500 less readers than they thought.

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By John Del Signore in News on August 6, 2008 1:11 PM

Comments [rss]

Sommelier

"they have 8,500 less readers"

"Fewer", damn it. "FEWER"! Doesn't anyone here know how to write this language?

NannyState

It's still a good paper, in spite of all the criminals they apparently employ.

Future Taliban

Considering all the fictitious news the NY Times delivers, I'd say it's par for the course. Plus this guy recycled.

Spirit of 76

read it on-line, it's faster and it's free and your hands won't get smudged with ink.

Yeah, but it's not the same. Strangely, I don't mind full-page ads when they're in the paper. The pictures in the ads sometimes look great. I completely ignore itty bitty online ads without even thinking about it. I also like the way articles and columns fit together in the paper, unlike the online version where everything is essentially on its own page. I'd love a Kindle-like device with a big, full-color, flexible screen that showed the Times exactly as it looks in its print edition, but affordable color electronic paper is at least ten years away.

JohndeGuzman

Jen Chung... get an Amazon Kindle! NYT is delivered every morning, you save money, and you save some trees. Perfecto.

dodgegibson

Are there even 8500 people in wisconsin?

LS

No he did not fake credit card numbers. He submitted these subscriptions. The Times got wind of the scam when they sent bills to these "phanthom" subscribers and got them returned as addressee unknown.