Junk Mail Fraud
Mailing lists contain the names and addresses of thousands of consumers, and third parties use these lists in order to send out advertisements, requests for charitable donations and notifications of special deals and new businesses. Unfortunately there is nothing to stop fraudsters from obtaining copies of these mailing lists under the guise of a legitimate business, which they can then use to send out a number of scams. ID theft companies can help to stop this from happening.
Charitable Donation Scams
Charities use mailing lists to send out requests for charitable donations and highlight their causes, as this is a reasonably cheap way to contact a large number of people. However fraudsters can also pose as charities and send out similar requests, with the intent to use your kind donation for their own purposes, or to trick you into revealing your sensitive financial details such as your bank account or credit card numbers, which they will then use to run up fraudulent charges. If you would like to donate to a charity you have seen advertising through unsolicited mail, make sure that you check the charity has been registered and has a valid charity number, and that the return address corresponds with the official address in the phone book or on the website.
Fake goods or services
Many companies use mailing list to send out brochures and special deals for their products or services, but these too could potentially be fraudulent, and although they look very professional they could just simply be an attempt to trick you into revealing your sensitive personal details, or the goods you receive could be not those advertised, counterfeit or of a very inferior quality.
Investment Scams
You may receive offers through the post inviting you to take part in ‘once in a lifetime’ investment opportunities, and this may be for things like land, property, new businesses, or shares and bonds. The questions you must ask yourself is who is the person/company offering the deal, and are they legitimate, and also if it was such an amazing opportunity, why does it need to be advertised to the general public? In reality this was truly were such as profitable deal then professional investors would have snapped it long before it would have had a chance to reach your door.