Another kind of scam

[Texas Proud]

OK, went to my mom's condo to get her mail... inside there was a green card that looks like one of those return cards from the post office, you know, the one to show you got the mail...


It looks very official and is preprinted with your name and address since it was mailed to you... BUT, they have a number of questions on it that will have someone give you a call to try and sell life insurance or some kind of medicare supplement...


And it also has in big capital letters "REGISTERED DOCUMENT - DO NOT DISCARD"...

 

[Oz investor]

OK, went to my mom's condo to get her mail... inside there was a green card that looks like one of those return cards from the post office, you know, the one to show you got the mail...


It looks very official and is preprinted with your name and address since it was mailed to you... BUT, they have a number of questions on it that will have someone give you a call to try and sell life insurance or some kind of medicare supplement...


And it also has in big capital letters "REGISTERED DOCUMENT - DO NOT DISCARD"...

is it big enough to make a paper plane out of ?

 

[Teacher Terry]

That’s terrible because it could fool people.

 

[Oz investor]

indeed they desire to ( deceive you )

however some folks like to warn all their friends and public

( it seems to work much better than contacting a regulator )

 

[DFDubb]

I probably get 10 pieces of "OMG SUPER OFFICIAL, PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY REGARDING....." mail a week. I don't understand how anybody could not just throw this stuff away.

Not sure I'd call it a scam either, it's just junk mail/direct marketing. If you're too dense to figure it out, well........

 

[scrabbler1]

Has anyone been getting any of those fake census forms which are really fundraising letters from a certain political party? Even though we are 8 years since the last census and 2 years until the next one, I have received 2 of them in the last few weeks.


Not being a fan of the political party which sent the "survey," I gave them a bunch of answers they would surely not like, along with some extra comments in the margins. No money, of course. The fun I had was worth the price of a stamp.


I did some research on this and found they were more popular in the lead-up to and when the 2010 census was being taken in 2009-2010. Not sure if they fooled people into thinking they had to send out money in order to complete a census form.


Also in my research, I read that the USPS Inspection Service determined this was not in violation of a 1990 law on this. The FEC also determined it didn't violate and rules, either.


But after I mailed that out a few weeks ago, I got another one, the same survey with "Final notice" printed on the envelope. This one goes into the trash.

 

[Bestwifeever]

My favorite unsolicited junk mail for a crap product scolded me in the first paragraph by telling me “we have tried to contact you three times and you have not even given us the courtesy of a reply.” How rude of me!

I worry that DH is not cynical enough to see through the OP’s official document scam.

 

[CaptTom]

The true importance of any piece of mail is inversely proportional to the number and font size of the "important" markings printed on it.

At least with physical mail, there is a cost to the sender and it's subject to federal law.

Phone scams are the Wild West. No cost to the scammer and no law enforcement.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Even though I've lived at my current address over 8 years, I continually get porn addressed to a previous resident, who wasn't even the one we bought the house from. USPS says there's nothing they can do about it, and it's illegal for me to file a change of address form for that person. The letter carrier told me if I mark it "return to sender" it just gets trashed since it's bulk mail, but he started weeding it out for me before he delivers it.

Another annoying sort of mail is for car warranties. They provide a "sample" bill for several thousand dollars.

 

[JoeWras]

Has anyone been getting any of those fake census forms which are really fundraising letters from a certain political party? Even though we are 8 years since the last census and 2 years until the next one, I have received 2 of them in the last few weeks.

I am registered independent in a state with open primaries. I have pulled ballots from both of the two big parties. These facts are public record.

So, now I get junk from both. Both do the fake survey. VERY IMPORTANT YOU ANSWER.

Yeah, right. Answer my shredder.

 

[Rianne]

My favorite scam of all time was a phone call from the IRS. I played along, asked for callers supervisor. The supervisor was the same person who called, the accent was obvious. I asked, very seriously, "who do I send the check to?" Took up all their time asking for details enjoying the fabricated BS from a 10 year old tax return.

Finally ended the charade when I questioned the 000-000-0000 number that showed up on our ATT TV screen.

 

[scrabbler1]

The true importance of any piece of mail is inversely proportional to the number and font size of the "important" markings printed on it.

Amen to that!

 

[JoeWras]

Here's the scam that really gets me mad now...

You get an "Official Notice" in the mail with a car brand you own. You tear it open concerned of a recall. Inside is an official notice of a sale. Grrrr!

Guess what? I got one of those, and a week later I got a junky looking postcard which was an actual recall notice! A postcard!! (This is for the airbag recall.)

 

[Texas Proud]

I probably get 10 pieces of "OMG SUPER OFFICIAL, PLEASE CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY REGARDING....." mail a week. I don't understand how anybody could not just throw this stuff away.

Not sure I'd call it a scam either, it's just junk mail/direct marketing. If you're too dense to figure it out, well........

The problem is that there are elderly who do not have all their abilities that they had when they were young... my mom was a very smart woman who graduated with honors and taught school.. unfortunately dementia and other medical problems has taken some of her critical thinking away from her... she is still smart at a lot of things, but her memory is shot.. so when someone says 'you owe us money' she believes them... when an official looking mail comes that looks almost exactly like the real one she cannot tell the difference....


I hope when you get old you do not have this problem, but if you do I hope that someone is not so flippant and calling you dense...


BTW, this IS different than the other official mail looking adverts... it looks like the priority mail return card, even the same color and size... all the others just say official and have an eagle with a name that sounds like a gvmt agency...

 

[Bestwifeever]

The problem is that there are elderly who do not have all their abilities that they had when they were young... my mom was a very smart woman who graduated with honors and taught school.. unfortunately dementia and other medical problems has taken some of her critical thinking away from her... she is still smart at a lot of things, but her memory is shot.. so when someone says 'you owe us money' she believes them... when an official looking mail comes that looks almost exactly like the real one she cannot tell the difference....


I hope when you get old you do not have this problem, but if you do I hope that someone is not so flippant and calling you dense...


BTW, this IS different than the other official mail looking adverts... it looks like the priority mail return card, even the same color and size... all the others just say official and have an eagle with a name that sounds like a gvmt agency...

Yes, and they use a “handwriting” font in a different color to make it look like ink so we think someone has checked the boxes, okayed it, and dated it. Lowest level of marketing.

 

[DFDubb]

The problem is that there are elderly who do not have all their abilities that they had when they were young... my mom was a very smart woman who graduated with honors and taught school.. unfortunately dementia and other medical problems has taken some of her critical thinking away from her... she is still smart at a lot of things, but her memory is shot.. so when someone says 'you owe us money' she believes them... when an official looking mail comes that looks almost exactly like the real one she cannot tell the difference....


I hope when you get old you do not have this problem, but if you do I hope that someone is not so flippant and calling you dense...


BTW, this IS different than the other official mail looking adverts... it looks like the priority mail return card, even the same color and size... all the others just say official and have an eagle with a name that sounds like a gvmt agency...

It's definitely sad that scum out there prey upon the elderly. My "dense" comment was more tongue in cheek about people who treat this type of marketing as some sort of scam from a criminal mastermind. It's good that you can filter out the nonsense, we have to do the same for a family member. I guess I just can't ever fathom opening a piece of mail that I know nothing about and putting a check in the return envelope.

Edit: Every time I toss one of these pieces of mail, I wonder about the "business owner" on the other end. What is their life like? Do they like making a living trying to fool people out of their money? What happened to them where they can sleep at night after a long, hard day of unethical work in the office? The world is just in such a slimeball place right now it seems.

 

[Texas Proud]

It's definitely sad that scum out there prey upon the elderly. My "dense" comment was more tongue in cheek about people who treat this type of marketing as some sort of scam from a criminal mastermind. It's good that you can filter out the nonsense, we have to do the same for a family member. I guess I just can't ever fathom opening a piece of mail that I know nothing about and putting a check in the return envelope.

Edit: Every time I toss one of these pieces of mail, I wonder about the "business owner" on the other end. What is their life like? Do they like making a living trying to fool people out of their money? What happened to them where they can sleep at night after a long, hard day of unethical work in the office? The world is just in such a slimeball place right now it seems.

My mom has actually put a check in and sent it off... but this did not ask for a check, it just wanted info so they can call and try and sell you something... my mom had been targeted by a few people and I am sorry to say she got taken... a couple of them are:


A monitoring system... they got a debit card number from her so I could not get the money back, but I kept their machine ... told them I would send it back when I got the money... when they said there was a contract I told them to sue... had to cancel the debit card...


Coin collecting , I have no idea how long this went on... they would send some collectable coins and bill her.. she paid.. I finally found out when she got some new pennies that she paid dollars for... they were probably charging 3X to 5X the real price...


Magazines... she liked to read them... but they would send a new bill which she paid as she did not want to miss out... she is about to turn 99 and has 3 years left on one magazine but they STILL send bills to extend her subscription...


We now have her in a place that takes really good care of her and I deal with the finances... she can live the rest of her life in peace...

 

[Mdlerth]

If only I could mail them back a brick

At least with physical mail, there is a cost to the sender and it's subject to federal law.
.

+1 The shreds go into the postage-paid reply envelope and returned to the sender.

 

[f35phixer]

fi you have been to vegas and walked down the street and had someone give you a nice looking card before. Well i collect them and when i get a pre stamped return envelope i add one of those NICE LOOKING cards and mail back. ;-)

 

[ls99]

+1 The shreds go into the postage-paid reply envelope and returned to the sender.

Ditto

 

[Crabby Mike]

I continually get porn addressed to a previous resident ... The letter carrier ... started weeding it out for me before he delivers it.

Uh huh, I'm sure he does!

 

[catii]

I take the ones with return labels, & send them a small gift...of well-used cat litter!

 

[RetireBy90]

The true importance of any piece of mail is inversely proportional to the number and font size of the "important" markings printed on it.

At least with physical mail, there is a cost to the sender and it's subject to federal law.

Phone scams are the Wild West. No cost to the scammer and no law enforcement.

Man do I agree with that !!! The phone scams have taken over my land line. We never answer that any more. They are so bold that the caller-ID comes up with SCAM something often. Cell phones are registered to ICE so they don't get so many

Should be a way to send an electric shock back to them on the phone

 

[Walt34]

I take the ones with return labels, & send them a small gift...of well-used cat litter!

I knew a guy who worked in a place that had the equipment and scrap material to do this - cut a piece of 3/8" thick lead to the size of the prepaid return envelope and mail that back to them. It cost the receiver a mint in postage.

 

[RobbieB]

I just toss the stuff unopened in the recycle bin.