Mail Scam

I don't know if this is the right place to post this or not but I just got home and a found a very non-descriptive envelope in my mailbox with just my name and address and a stamp. There was no return address or anything else. The letter was from something called Direct Opinions Marketing and Sur. The gist of the letter was something about how I would be a mystery shopper for them and make all this money. It came with a enclosed Certified Check for 1271.02 saying that I was to use 945.00 at Western Union to send the money back to them to test there services, and then 40.00 on Best Buy or any of 5 other Dept stores. Finally the remainder was mine to keep.

I did some research and found a forum speaking of this being a scam, but thought it would be a good thing to pass around here as well so that no one finds themselves getting done in by some false hope of money and a secondary income.

Unsolicited mail proposal + western union = scam

I wish I could upload that into the universal consciousness.
Damn thieving slugs.

There was a time when I used engage them and scam them back.
It lasted weeks and drove them insane. I miss those days.
We were so creative making them drive across the country with bad western union numbers.
Spending hours at a distant airport waiting for me to show up with my suitcase full of cash only to hear from me screaming at them for being at the wrong terminal.

I could tell stories that would make you howl.

Cash the check, keep the money. They sent it to you unsolicited, no reason for you to be obligated to spend it the way they want you to.

Though I wouldn't blow the money right away. Most likely it will bounce and then you'll be charged for the amount. If not, hey, free money...

reply to post by Phantom28804


I always remember a golden rule: There is no such thing as free money(legally at least)
I would say don't cash it cuz it will go on your credit report as a liability. I am sure that cashing it in comes with some type of obligation.
You might need a magnifying glass but I'd bet there is a disclaimer somewhere in that envelope.

spec

In the US, cashing them is not a good idea because you WILL be charged with fraud by the banks.
I wouldn't mess with them, it would only create huge problems for you (that is IF they even cashed it for you).

Passing bad checks is not a good thing.

eta
The idea is for you to cash the bad check, wire the scammers most of it and you are supposed to keep some for your troubles. You take the heat while they enjoy the untraceable income. It isn't very well conceived because most big banks are onto the scams and wont cash them, but if you did this in your own bank, you may get in trouble.

I think the Russian mafia is now trying to take the Nigerian's slice of the pie these days.

This SCAM is as old a checks themselves! If you go to your bank and deposit this check and then take the money out of your account to pay them you will loose the excess you send to them and the check will come back marked as insufficient funds. This is guaranteed to give you a large headache! you will have to make up the difference to your bank
IT'S A SCAM..DON'T FALL FOR IT!

Zindo

Yea I know better then to expect free money for doing nothing. More then anything I thought I would let other people know so they wouldn't end up falling for something like that. I was actually planning to take it to the postal service tomorrow and turn it in for mail fraud.

reply to post by Phantom28804


What irks me about it when you take it to your bank they will force you to deposit it and when you ask for the difference back they tell you that they have to take it out of your existing balance. They have no way to check to see if that check is bogus before they put it through the system. Then they charge you a fee on top of your loss. They make millions on fraudulent check scamming but won' t do anything pro-active to stop it even if they could!
Zindo

Another e-mail scam is making the rounds, and this time, it's about your cellphone.
The e-mail appears to be from a friend warning that your cellphone number could soon be the target of telemarketers.
According to the e-mail, mobile numbers are about to become listed, and it urges people to sign up for a do-not-call list to avoid any incoming call charges.

Yea it is a bit ridiculous. What is more ridiculous is that I took this thing envelope and all to the post office today. I figured I would turn it in and hopefully get someone in trouble. Well when I took it to them they said, "Just go ahead and shred it or throw it away, because we can't do anything about it. Those people will hire a random person to dump them in the on street mailboxes and there is no way to track where it comes from. The only bad thing is that some people actually fall for it and do what they ask."

I was like seriously you aren't going to do anything about it at all? WTF I mean wow I am determined to get someone's attention on this now, because that is just some utter BS that they won't even try and do something.

reply to post by Phantom28804


Actually, the moron you talked to should know that it is MAIL FRAUD and should have turned it over to postal inspectors and done their job. I think you can find the local office of the postal inspector in the blue pages of your phone book under Federal Government offices. If not there's always the FBI office and they can at least help you get in touch with the Postal office if it's not listed! We're paying mucho dollars for them to investigate and make arrests so if your willing to make a formal complaint then maybe you get some mileage out of it!

Zindo