My first job out of high school was entering those Columbia House applications into a computer database.<p>The amount of fake applications I, personally, came across was astounding. I can remember, on my first day, coming across a batch of applications that were so obviously all from the same person -- different CD selections (six-digit numbers, if memory serves) and different names but the same mailing address and same handwriting. I went up to ask my supervisor what I should do about them and was told to enter them in regardless. Basically, it did not matter one bit if the apps were fake or fraudulent. My job was to enter them into the computer. It was explicitly <i>NOT</i> my job to decide whether they were legitimate or not. I wondered <i>then</i> how they managed to make any money.<p>Even before I worked there, though, it was common knowledge amongst my friends in high school that you could put whatever information you wanted to on the applications and the CDs would still come in the mail.