Postmaster wants to cancel mail fraud

Do you know if you're involved in a scam or fraud?

Fremont Postmaster Doug Sorensen sees mail fraud every day and said there's one sure way to know if you're being duped.

"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true," he said. "A lot of times people get so many lotteries or drawings, but if you have to pay something to get something ‘free,' ignore it.

"Also, if it's presorted standard mail it's not real — it's been sent to thousands of people," Sorensen said. "If you won something, it would have been sent certified mail."

For instance, if a company sends you a notice that you've won a trip, but wants you to call with a credit card in order to receive your "prize," don't do it.

All foreign lotteries sent through the U.S. Postal Service are illegal, he said.

The U.S. Postal Service in cooperation with the Direct Marketing Association defines a sweepstakes mailing as "an advertising or promotional device by which items of value (prizes) are sent to participating consumers by chance with no purchase or ‘entry fee' required to win."

In other words, Sorensen said, any company asking for money or anything of value to be in a contest is not offering a legitimate contest — contests are free and random. Mail fraud is a scheme to get money or something of value from a person by offering a product, service or investment opportunity that does not live up to its claims.

Sorensen said most mail-order companies are honest and stand behind their products and services, but a few bad companies give direct mail advertisers a bad name.

One of the things the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act prohibits is, "That the recipient must make a purchase in order to receive future sweepstakes mailings."

Sweepstakes scams are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the U.S. Postal Service.

"Just last week, I sent in money orders (to the Postal Inspectors) that were counterfeit," Sorensen said. "They were $1,000 Postal money orders, but luckily we didn't have enough money on hand to cover them."

He made copies of the money orders and found they had been written for amounts as small as $10 then changed — poorly. Fremont Postal supervisors called every bank in town to warn them that the phony money orders were going around. They also called the Postal Inspectors and police.

"The money order guy was the victim, he received the checks," Sorensen said. "It's usually an e-Bay case where somebody notifies the seller they have a $1,000 Postal money order and to send the change back."

Everybody would like to sit at home and make money and a lot of scams are aimed at that.

"The big thing this year is work at-home schemes like stuffing envelopes or buying parts and assembling them," Sorensen said. "Work at home scams, they just don't pay."

He said most of the work at home scams are pyramid schemes, where the person who was originally duped must advertise or send letters to get other people to pay them to get into the "business."

People also steal mail and put a change of address in so they can receive your mail, he said.

"What people don't realize is when you're messing with the mail, the Postal Inspectors get involved," Sorensen said. "You mess with the mail, it's a federal offense."

He said if you suspect you're missing mail, call your local police or call the Postal Inspectors at 392-8920.

"Most of us have a pretty good idea of what mail we get throughout the month and when," Sorensen said. "If you get open bills, call your credit card company, call the postmaster and call the police."

If you go on vacation, he suggested putting your mail on hold or having a friend or relative pick it up for you. If you're really worried about your mail, get a post office box.

Sorensen also warned that people should pick up their mail every day.

"If the box fills up, we'll bring all the mail back to the post office and put it on a 10-day hold," he said. "After the 10-day hold, we mark it ‘moved, no forwarding address.'"

Probably the easiest and friendliest way to make sure your mail is safe and you encounter no fraud is simple.

"It's a good thing to get to know your mailman because he'll take care of you," Sorensen said. "You've got a lot of information on and inside those letters you don't want the wrong people to get a hold of."

* "Phishing" is an e-mail scam where frauders pretend to be legitimate businesses like a bank, credit card company or Internet provider. They send official-looking e-mails to try and trick you into divulging personal information by warning of potential problems with your account. The crooks are "phishing" for your personal information such as your bank account number, your PIN or Social Security number for the purpose of stealing your identity. Do not respond to unsolicited e-mail or respond by clicking on a link within the e-mail. Instead, contact the actual business to find out if the e-mail is genuine and always check your monthly credit card statements for suspicious transactions.

* Identity theft can occur over the phone as well as through the Internet. Shop only over the phone with companies known to be reputable. Do not give your personal information like your Social Security number, driver's license number or account information to someone you don't know.

* Shred all unwanted credit card offers before throwing them away.

* If you are a victim of identity theft, report it to local law enforcement immediately. You also will need to contact your bank, creditors and the three credit reporting agencies as soon as possible.

For more information, contact the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division at 1-800-727-6432. More information on what to do if you are a victim of identity theft is available on the Attorney General's Web site at http://www.ago.state.ne.us .