Despite living in the digital age, it would appear that scams by post are still out there. Benjamin Jackson explains what he did in the situation he found himself in when he was the recipient of one such scam.
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00:00So, I'm minding my own business, working on a piece for National World's Silent Crime
00:04Campaign, when the postal flap opened and a bunch of letters were strewn across my floor.
00:10Taking a look through what we received today was one letter addressed to me, at least I
00:14think it was addressed for me anyway, as the name and address were pretty close but somehow
00:19it ended up in my possession.
00:21Slightly anxious, I opened it up to read the following, Dear Benji, with one I, yada yada
00:25yada, personal information, distant relative, money, Spain, wait, am I Spanish?
00:35No it turns out scam mails don't merely exist in the digital world anymore, or still rather,
00:41I've been targeted by a postal scam and it is exactly how it sounds, think about those
00:45spam emails you'd get from a prince of a small country requesting money to open up a wealth
00:50of fortunes just for my assistance, only in a post-internet world.
00:57They can be addressed to you directly, and even use your name, or attempt to in my case.
01:02They contain fake claims or offers that are designed to con you out of money, and they
01:06come in the usual guises, lottery and prize draws, pyramid schemes, fake job offers, strangers
01:12in need of help, and in my case, an unclaimed inheritance.
01:16But what makes it more pertinent than an email scam though, is the legitimacy it seems to
01:20bear to have someone go to the efforts to contact you by post, it lends itself to merely
01:27being added to an email list just to tick all the boxes that, yep, we've scammed that
01:32email address.
01:33So what to do when something like this comes in the post?
01:36Well Age UK offer the following advice, verify.
01:40If you're unsure, check the details of the organisation, find the organisation's details
01:45using the phone book or via their official website, never use the contact details littered
01:50on the scam letter, reject if you receive a letter you think is a scam, ignore it, throw
01:56it away, never reply, as tempting as it may sound, and of course report, pay it forwards,
02:02make sure that this thing doesn't happen to other people out there.
02:06You can contact the Royal Mail if you think you've received scam mail and send it to them
02:10with a covering letter.
02:12If you want more information about scams or to report a scam, there is also action
02:15fraud.
02:17The Citizens Advice Bureau can be contacted by phone or online if you've received a postal
02:22scam.
02:23And for those ones that have a slight air of legality to them, well, you can contact
02:28the Solicitor's Regulation Authority, again, if you receive a letter from a solicitor and
02:34you're not sure if it's genuine, they can tell you if the solicitor's firm is registered
02:39and check a list of reported scams on their website.
02:43Remain vigilant, I hardly thought that these things happened, I was half expecting a chain
02:48letter to be honest with you, but do your due diligence, make sure you report it, and
02:54don't fall foul to this.