Come Fly With Me
I got my first snail-mail scam today. I won two round-trip airline tickets to anywhere in the United States!
The masterpiece arrived in a regular letter envelope and was addressed by hand. The regular first class self-stick stamp was postmarked in Phoenix, AZ
(Click on the pictures for full-size PDFs)
Inside, the document had a letterhead for 'US Airlines". I'm guessing this is to bank on the confusion between US Airways and American Airlines. The letter was addressed to me by name and was also signed by hand.
The letter reads as follows:
NOTE: You must respond no later than November 25th, 2011.
Dear Christopher,
I am pleased to inform you that you have qualified for an award of 2 roundtrip airline tickets. Congratulations. These tickets are valid for travel anywhere in the Continental U.S. from any major international airport. The retail value of this award is up to $1,400.00. Certain restrictions apply.
We have attempted contacting you several times without success. This is our last attempt. If we do not hear from you soon, we may need to issue the ticket vouchers to the alternate.
Please call me today at 1-866-351-2044
Regards,
Valerie Fay
Vice President
EO-20270
I'm sure anyone who reads my blog is smart enough to not fall for this anyway, but it was certainly an anomaly in my mail box.
UPDATE [11/19/2011]:
Commenter "Scmmer" did a little research and added:
I called the number. Was transferred to a young sounding woman who essentially repeated everything in the letter then told me that its a new Travel Agency that is looking to build their business. You have to visit their office located at 2002 N Lois Ave. in the Westwood Center. Then she explianed that this was for married or cohabitating couples. When I asked what the agency name was she pointed me to '"airfareanddealsdotcom". Doing a quick google search turned up the IP address which turned up 4 entries on he BotScout website.http://www.botscout.com/ipcheck.htm?ip=174.36.238.92A Whois search shows they are out of Provo, Utah.Thats about all I can find online but I am interested in seeing where this goes.
Jacob said,
Wrote on November 18, 2011 @ 01:35
I got the same thing in the mail today. Thanks for posting this. Helps confirm that it is indeed spam
rubi said,
Wrote on November 18, 2011 @ 12:42
The capital F in my "Fay" was formed differently than the one in your letter.
Why would someone waste all of that first class postage?
Kari said,
Wrote on November 18, 2011 @ 21:39
I also recieved the same one! Annoying and yes, what a waste of time!
Mark said,
Wrote on November 19, 2011 @ 07:58
Chris – Thanks for posting. I thought it really odd that the envelope was hand addressed. I doubt that the county sherriff in Michigan will do much, but I am forwarding this on to them. Maybe some authority can bust this phishing company.
Man, there sure are alot of stupid people out there, but I do want to thank Valarie Fay (which we all know doesn't exist) for trying to support the U.S. Postal Service.
Kenneth said,
Wrote on November 19, 2011 @ 12:07
Received the same letter today dated Nov. 14th. The F in Fay is different but same letter. PS, There is no US Airlines. What is weird is it arrived only a few weeks after I took a flight on US Air where they announced on the plane that you may win free tickets, weird.
Mike said,
Wrote on November 19, 2011 @ 15:03
Most probably do it over email because using the federal mail makes it a federal offense. Here's the web site to report mail fraud: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/mailfraudcomplaint.aspx
Scmmer said,
Wrote on November 19, 2011 @ 20:36
Has anyone actually called the number to see what happens? I got the exact same letter today. My post mark was 17 Nov.
The signature on my letter is much different as is the handwriting on the envelope.
Scmmer said,
Wrote on November 19, 2011 @ 21:06
I called the number. Was transferred to a young sounding woman who essentially repeated everything in the letter then told me that its a new Travel Agency that is looking to build their business. You have to visit their office located at 2002 N Lois Ave. in the Westwood Center. Then she explianed that this was for married or cohabitating couples. When I asked what the agency name was she pointed me to '"airfareanddealsdotcom". Doing a quick google search turned up the IP address which turned up 4 entries on he BotScout website.
http://www.botscout.com/ipcheck.htm?ip=174.36.238.92
A Whois search shows they are out of Provo, Utah.
Thats about all I can find online but I am interested in seeing where this goes.
Mike M said,
Wrote on November 19, 2011 @ 22:49
I got the same email today and it set off my radar as a scam. My question of course, is this a form of fraud? I'm tired of this kind of junk.
Alberto said,
Wrote on November 20, 2011 @ 21:35
Got the same letter. File a complaint with the U.S. Postal Service at https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/mailfraudcomplaint.aspx and the Federal Trade Commission at https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
If enough people complain, hopefully they'll track these creeps!!!
Sheila said,
Wrote on November 21, 2011 @ 20:54
We got a letter today. The exact same letter with a few exceptions. The V in Valerie had an exclamation point after it and the F in Fay is also different. Also, at the very bottom and in the middle there was EP-33673. I persoanlly will not be making any calls only because of caller id. Bad enough they have my address, I so do not want them knowing my phone number. And I will also be puting in my complaints the postal service and the Federal Trade Commission.
Chris said,
Wrote on November 24, 2011 @ 11:01
Received the same letter, they want credit card info to secure the FREE ticket. I questioned this and they lady argued with me then she hung up…This has SCAM all over it….
Towhee said,
Wrote on November 26, 2011 @ 14:03
I got the same letter last week. Had put it aside to research later. Was very glad to find these posts. This letter came to South Carolina. Post marked Nov 11. Again thanks to everyone that posted especially Alberto with the links to FTC and Mail Fraud.
Todd - Michigan said,
Wrote on November 30, 2011 @ 19:40
Mine had a different phone number, 866-352-7395, and EO-38874. Tried to do a reverse phone look up on many sites and got not hits.