I understand you asked that in your OP, but Isaacs initial post outlined that as being an option as step #2 as far as diving into your database (which is generally unsupported officially); to which the direction chosen was troubleshooting what ended up being results from before the system was rewritten.
If you wanted to modify your database directly, I can offer two options. Both require modification of the ubbt_SUBSCRIPTION_DATA table
... (skipping #1/advanced troubleshooting involving expiring any active subscriptions)
or 2/
You can also modify the database directly and remove the undesirable lines from SUBSCRIPTION_DATA.
This will also remove the subscription history (and detail) from the forum user's dashboard and the admin's dashboard. This should be a last resort.