Crime & Safety

Business Owner Confused About Alleged Scam Involving Her Store

The owner of Los Feliz Cleaners on Hillhurst says she does not know why the LAPD's Northeast Division issued an alert related to discount cards redeemable at her drycleaning business.

There's some confusion Friday morning about an alleged scam involving a discount coupon and a Los Feliz dry cleaner.

Patricia Kim, who says she inherited Los Feliz Cleaners at 1922 Hillhurst Avenue from her father last year, told Echo Park-Silver Lake Patch she does not know why police issued a warning about coupons bearing the shop's address late Wednesday.

The LAPD Northeast Division Facebook posting said, in part:

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An unknown suspect has been selling these Fake Cleaners Coupons that have no value and are not redeemable anywhere. If you encounter this type of coupon or flyer do not accept it and report the incident to the Police.

Click through to see the full posting, which also includes a picture of the alleged coupon. (You can see that in the above gallery too.)

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The posting attracted a comment by Harold Quay, who, according to Kim, runs the company that sells the MVP Discount card mentioned in the coupon.

Quay says in the comment:

THIS IS NOT A SCAM! The above is simply a business card/flyer left by the salesman. You have to order the MVP card as stated on this flyer. Visit mvpdiscountcard.com for more information.

The copy on the flyer drives the reader to a phone number to order the discount card.  It does not include the MVP Discount website, which lists a variety of cleaners across the country and gives people the option of paying $40 to get $140 worth of drycleaning. They must purchase the cards at the site.

Quay told us in an email, "That was an old flyer that didn't have the website on it."

We headed over to Los Feliz Cleaners Friday morning to check out things for ourselves. An employee showed us an example of the MVP card.  She also said that locals had been coming in and starting to use them recently after a wave of door-to-door solicitations by MVP reps.

Owner Kim added that her father had worked with Quay and his company for many years to offer the promotion, which does involve some door-to-door solicitation to drive people to the website to make a purchase.

Kim said that recently a man named Lester Veland had been soliciting in Los Feliz neighborhoods around dinnertime. She said that may have prompted someone to call the LAPD. She also expressed some concern that the alert had been picked up by City News Service and the Los Angeles Daily News.

We put in a call to Northeast's Crimes Analysis Division to find out their version of the story.

We are also looking for people who may have ordered the MVP card and used it with or without success, as well as those who may have paid money directly to anyone involved with MVP.

Check back at the site for that.


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