Wednesday, March 06, 2013

can you believe

I believe there are people trying to take money from me without giving me anything of value. In short there are scammers who have my number (and address).

honest injun I mean Native American


Beware

Since the beginning of man (just after Eden closed?) there have been more people wanting to take your money than give you money. I’ve heard they will take your soul if you let them (learned that in song long ago).

I’ve gotten accustomed to spam and scam via email. This time it showed up in the snail mail. At least our postal service made a few cents. Slightly off the topic but scam-by-mail could add revenue to our needy postal service.

A simple letter asked us to call a toll-free number to claim our award. It was mailed from Arizona. Maybe it is too hot in Arizona to think straight. I estimate this stupid letter probably cost them about $1 in total. Now if they send say 1000 letters (they send many as you see) that’s $1000. Didn’t all the scammers learn that email is the way to go?

This award losing letter has an unimpressive logo header with the name of United Airways. First off there is no United Airways in the United States. Checking that was what lead me to discover that this is long running scam. If you google “United Airways letter” you’ll quickly find many sites reporting this scam.

One of the best write-ups with copies of the various letters and details is a post on the blog Memoirs of a Single Dad. Another example of the benefits of blogging. He originally posted about this last year in December and has updated the information a few times since. This post and its many comments brought me to the conclusion that they have mailed out many letters so I hope they are having cash flow problems.

Our letter was signed (appears to be handwritten) by Vice President Lea Kale. If you check the mentioned post you’ll find this is new name. I believe they are going through Vice President quickly in their attempt to find one with enough vice.

I do appreciate their contribution to our postal service and suggest that they cool off with a jump in one of the lovely Arizona lakes. Oh, and thanks for the blog post idea too.

You’ve got a friend but remember a friend doesn’t rip you off.


When people can be so cold
They'll hurt you,
yes, and desert you
And take your soul if you let them
Oh, but don't you let them.



another circus 

13 comments:

Nita said...

The sad thing is they must have a lot of people falling for the scam to pay to send out all those letters.

Secret Agent Woman said...

It's astounding to me how many people fo get sucked in by those scams.

lisleman said...

Unfortunately you are probably right. I hoping they are just losing money.
thanks

lisleman said...

The sucker born every minute thing I guess. I do think scams have been going on forever. thanks

Laurie Matherne said...

I got a postcard last week in my US mail that offered me a free trip on US Airways. I wasn't going to call as I knew it was too good to be true. When I passed it on to my friend, she noticed the small print that proved beyond all doubt it was a scam. We don't have mail service in Honduras which can be a good thing.

lisleman said...

I remember you mentioning the lack of mail service. I don't mind a few stupid pieces of scam mail. Really the shopping catalogs are borderline scam. They always push stuff you don't need and just discount from inflated prices.

Cheryl P. said...

I occasionally get those types of "your a winner" letters. I always assume it's a scam. I tend to ignore just about any junk mail. It must pay off for companies like this though or they wouldn't keep doing it. I am amazed that people would fall for some of this type of sham.

Bee said...

Huh. I don't think I've received one of those letters, but I did get an automated -- not even a real person -- phone call last week about Royal Carribean Cruises. I never asked for information about a cruise, and after the recent cruise ship mishap, where they were all stranded for a week? Yeah...no.

lisleman said...

There must be a few people who are clueless about scams. Yes this scam does appear very obvious.

lisleman said...

I would trade junk mail for telemarketer calls anytime. I can't stand the interrupting robot calls. thanks

lisle lib said...

just a test - window vista apparently out-of-date firefox at lisle library

Tami said...

I received one of these letters recently. It immediately went into the trash. Idiot scammers!

lisleman said...

Lots of idiot scammers looking for the next idiot. Most everyone would know something is not right about the letter. I wonder how scammers have been scammed? I do know the police have used scams to catch parole violators which is great justice. thanks

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