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Toys “R” Us sells toy guns, police car models, and fake badges, but the chain’s traffic in make-believe apparently extends to real-life law as well. More than a year after retrieving her son from the back office of a San Francisco Toys “R” Us store—after a security guard caught him carrying around a Yak Bak toy in his pocket—Margaret Chant received a letter containing a fake civil complaint. “You may stop this suit from being filed by making payment according to the terms of the demand letter enclosed,” it warned. The demand letter asked for $365 in civil damages. Unable to come up with the money, Chant contacted Berkeley, Calif., attorney Larry Hildes.

“The first word out of my mouth was ‘scam,'” Hildes says. He says the letter, sent by Florida attorney James R. Palmer, who represented Loss Prevention Specialists (LPS), a Florida collections firm contracted by Toys “R” Us, contained several improprieties. The most obvious: California law allows retailers to collect damages only if a person leaves the premises with merchandise.

So why did Chant receive a letter? “We’re under contract to send a letter to everyone we get a report on,” says LPS president Read Hayes. Rebecca Caruso, a Toys “R” Us spokeswoman, claims that the chain has a right to seek such damages.

Hildes has filed a lawsuit against LPS, Palmer, and Toys “R” Us. “[LPS] has no ability to bring lawsuits except in Florida,” says Hildes. “Fifty percent of the people who get these letters pay, so [LPS is] just playing the percentages.”

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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