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"My guess is... it's a scam"

      A Desk reader handed the Desk a postcard and asked "Is this for real?"

      The Desk's immediate opinion was "scam" and within about three minutes, the opinion was confirmed.

      The only question was, exactly what kind of scam was it?

      Several other debunking websites called it a phishing attempt. Another pointed out that bill collectors have been using this tactic to get people that owe on bills to call them. And another version of the same thing has been used to establish even the most flimsy 'business relationship' with you so that telemarketers can call you at all hours of the day and night and when they're not calling, they can send you catalogs for all sorts of junk you can't live without because when you called, you also confirmed the mailing address they had on the postcard was correct.
      "Operators are standing by."

      Well, in this case they're not 'standing by'....

      When the desk called the number it got a recording about how their business hours were 9 to 5 Pacific Time. Oh well.

      So the only advice the Desk, and the sources cited below as well, can give, is....

"If you get one of these- time yourself:
How fast can you ESCAPE by dropping it in the recycling bin?"


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From one of the airlines listed on this version of the scamcard: US Airways scam alert page
http://www.usairways.com/en-US/contact/scamalert.html

USA Today article about the Delta Airline flavored postcard
http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/11/delta-scam-alert/566963/1

The Post Office's role in it:

"U.S. Postal Inspectors investigate any crime in which the U.S. Mail is used to further a scheme--whether it originated in the mail, by telephone, or on the Internet. The use of the U.S. Mail is what makes it mail fraud."
https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov

Another website with examples of the Southwest version http://windsorlocks.patch.com

And one more for good measure http://ctwatchdog.com/

More Media Desk fraud and scam articles:

The The National Reply Center scam from earlier this year.

An Orange Flavored version of essentially the same thing: The Great Orange Juice Telemarketing SCAM
-and-
The Desk's clearinghouse page for all of this sort of crap. (which really needs to be updated! yeah, I know ) http://www.themediadesk.com/files/urban.htm

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