[DeanFL]

Originally Posted by buzzy

We send a contribution to St Jude Children's hospital once or twice a year. We now get a request mailer every week.

My GF Phyllis - her 92YO father passed away almost 3 years ago.
Even now, his mail is forwarded to our TV address. He had a great heart and gave to many charities. And, he (we now) receive at least 2 mailings each week - to his name - from various charities, no doubt asking for $$$.

[OhioBuckeye]

Originally Posted by jnieman

Don't fall for a gold envelope with a letter and a black pull tab and scratch off in it that says you are a finalist for a 2017 Toyota Prius Hybrid Hybrid Giveaway. This comes in the mail. I got one today and it looks very convincing. I saw that it came from PVS LLC and did some research. Here's a link to the scammer's info. There is a picture of the envelope in this link.

Marketing by Deception (Once Again) | Playing in the World Game

JNIEMAN, not picking on you, but I thought everybody knew that these flyers were something to get you in their showroom so some slick salesman could give you some BS sales pitch. Also just look at the return address, it probably say BULK MAIL, that means everybody is getting it too. I get them from a Ford Dealership too, saying their in short demand of certain yr. auto which just happens to be what I've got. The flyer says that they'll give me $17,000. trade in for my 5 yr. old car which has over 100,000 mi. on it. I can gaurantee you I might get 3 to $5,000. trade in but once they get you there it's high pressure time. JNIEMAN, throw all of your flyers into file 13 right there in that big round white file. Remember if they want to give you something & you think it's to good to be true, believe me, IT IS!

[Bob45]

I sometimes take my junk mail and put it in another junk mail stamped return envelope and mail it. FWIW it makes me smile.
Bob

[DaveK]

I had this problem when my aunt in Toronto, Canada, passed away. When there was a postage-paid return envelope available, I wrote "DECEASED" across the donation card, put the card in the envelope, and dropped the whole thing in the mail. This worked wonders on reducing the amount of junk mail. After about six months, all the junk mail was gone. Try it.

[DeanFL]

Originally Posted by DaveK

I had this problem when my aunt in Toronto, Canada, passed away. When there was a postage-paid return envelope available, I wrote "DECEASED" across the donation card, put the card in the envelope, and dropped the whole thing in the mail. This worked wonders on reducing the amount of junk mail. After about six months, all the junk mail was gone. Try it.

She has done that, but still getting some - he did give to a lot of places with their hands out...
Or maybe they think the "giving genes" passed onto her...

[DonH57]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

I recently received one of these mailings and after scratching it off...found out that I had won!


After sending a check for $2,357.62 for administration costs...my new free Samsung refrigerator should be here soon.

Same here except I'm getting a Samsung Washer and Dryer!

[DonH57]

Originally Posted by Bob45

I sometimes take my junk mail and put it in another junk mail stamped return envelope and mail it. FWIW it makes me smile.
Bob

Thanks for the tip !

[BobnBev]

Originally Posted by DonH57

Same here except I'm getting a Samsung Washer and Dryer!

I'll trade you my new Jeep for your W & D.

[OhioBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Bob45

I sometimes take my junk mail and put it in another junk mail stamped return envelope and mail it. FWIW it makes me smile.
Bob

I've heard of people doing that! I did it a couple of times but it didn't detour them a bit, I still got garbage from them. Right now emails are worse!

[jnieman]

Originally Posted by OhioBuckeye

JNIEMAN, not picking on you, but I thought everybody knew that these flyers were something to get you in their showroom so some slick salesman could give you some BS sales pitch. Also just look at the return address, it probably say BULK MAIL, that means everybody is getting it too. I get them from a Ford Dealership too, saying their in short demand of certain yr. auto which just happens to be what I've got. The flyer says that they'll give me $17,000. trade in for my 5 yr. old car which has over 100,000 mi. on it. I can gaurantee you I might get 3 to $5,000. trade in but once they get you there it's high pressure time. JNIEMAN, throw all of your flyers into file 13 right there in that big round white file. Remember if they want to give you something & you think it's to good to be true, believe me, IT IS!

This particular one was not from a car dealer offering a huge amount for my trade in.

If you click the link and read it you can see that. It was a sweepstakes saying that you may have won an automobile. It also had a little mini lightbox attached and if you pull the tab it lights up with a series of numbers flashing in red. Then if that number matches the winning number posted (which it will) then you have won.

Yes I normally throw them away and have never fallen for a scam either in the mail or on my computer. I knew it was a scam after reading it and looking up the company on line, but wanted to warn my fellow seniors.

Some seniors are not as alert to this type of thing and I put out the warning because I wanted to help them. I could see it was bulk mail and knew that other Villages seniors received this also. Some people especially those who grew up before all of this deception began cannot always spot a fraud like this. A friend of mine's mother fell for something similar to this and they cleaned out her bank account.

So many times I have read in the news of a senior being a victim to a mail or email scam. Just alerting my fellow citizen.

[2BNTV]

I have received several letters asking me to extend my car warranty from Toyota when my car was under warranty. I call the Toyota dealership and they told me it wasn't sent by them, so it went to the round file.

I received another bogus letter after my car was out of warranty.

I had thought of giving the letter to Crimes Against Seniors but it just was easier to just throw it away.

These people never stop trying to scam people!!!

I also don't like charities that after you give a donation, you are deluged with request to give more. I think they should give the option for an ongoing donation and stop bothering people with numerous requests.

In other words, "leave me the he$$ alone"!!!

BTW - It puts a smile on my face they are wasting their time and resources. No wonder most of the charities spend the bulk of money on their administrative fees instead of giving it to the people who really need help.

[Sandtrap328]

Originally Posted by jnieman

Don't fall for a gold envelope with a letter and a black pull tab and scratch off in it that says you are a finalist for a 2017 Toyota Prius Hybrid Hybrid Giveaway. This comes in the mail. I got one today and it looks very convincing. I saw that it came from PVS LLC and did some research. Here's a link to the scammer's info. There is a picture of the envelope in this link.

Marketing by Deception (Once Again) | Playing in the World Game

I got mine in the mail today. Yes, it does say it is a timeshare deal and requires a 90 minute presentation. I liked the odds of winning. The odds of getting the "7 night cruise" is 239,997:240,000. Of course, you have to pay an activation fee, deposit, port charges, taxes.

Whoopie!! My ship has come in!

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by DonH57

Same here except I'm getting a Samsung Washer and Dryer!

Dagnabit...now you're thinking!

You're getting two things...and I was only getting one.


No worry though, I just called and for a small change fee of $973.26....I can get the washer and dryer instead.

Thanks for the good idea.

[Shimpy]

Originally Posted by OhioBuckeye

I've heard of people doing that! I did it a couple of times but it didn't detour them a bit, I still got garbage from them. Right now emails are worse!

At least you get some satisfaction knowing you caused them to spend some money on postage.