Phishing by first class paper mail

[BearZDefect]

I kid you not, today I received mail purportedly from Swissport in Dulles, sincerely from Casey Ellis, claiming that I have unclaimed property. The response form had blanks for my name, signature, social security number, and current address. Wow! LOL

They did not have my actual name and I did not recognize the name as a prior owner of this house, but they had a nice hand written name and my address on the envelope, with an official looking return address and phone+fax numbers, etc.

Beware, these crooks are investing more in their business!

 

[OneEyeJack]

Proof that Darwin is alive and well in our society.

 

[Garak]

That actually is pretty creative. People are getting used to ignoring spam email, so it's back to the basics, I suppose.

 

[sicko]

Is the return address legit?

I'm not saying to send them your information, I'm just wondering if they used a legitimate return address.

 

[NMBurb02]

I would contact law enforcement. If the return address is in another state than it is FBI jurisdiction, otherwise probably the state police/highway patrol. With a physical address or even a PO box they may be able to catch these guys for mail fraud if they move fast enough.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Proof that Darwin is alive and well in our society.


What does that even mean???

Originally Posted By: Garak
That actually is pretty creative. People are getting used to ignoring spam email, so it's back to the basics, I suppose.


A lot of it is filtered out, too. I check my spam box once every few weeks and see some pretty legit looking subject lines. Most use my email, not my name, but others use my first name. I wonder where they got that from :stank eye pointed at legit online subsriptions:

Originally Posted By: sicko
Is the return address legit?

I'm not saying to send them your information, I'm just wondering if they used a legitimate return address.


I'd toss it and not spend a second thought on it, unless I received more than one solicitation.

Originally Posted By: NMBurb02
I would contact law enforcement. If the return address is in another state than it is FBI jurisdiction, otherwise probably the state police/highway patrol. With a physical address or even a PO box they may be able to catch these guys for mail fraud if they move fast enough.


I'm lazy and probably wouldn't go this far, but it's a good idea.

 

[Garak]

Some places do handle spam better than others, with respect to the email stuff, that's for sure. My usual tactic is just to have one email address I use whenever I sign up for a forum or need to input an email address for a nebulous reason. That account gets a fair bit of spam, but that's what it's for. The filter isn't great, but I've used that account for that purpose so long, there's not much I can do.

I don't allow unaddressed admail (i.e. the Canadian term for regular junk mail) in my mail box. However, first class mail spam would certainly make it through!

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Proof that Darwin is alive and well in our society.
And Darwin didn't know about 100 HP motorbikes driven by 17 year old Mensa candidates.