So, I get home from work yesterday and run out to the mailbox. On a normal day we get the typical sales flyers from various stores, a few credit card applications and the assorted bills.
Yesterday was different. There was this 8 x 11 brown envelope with “Do not bend” stamped all over it. It was addressed to me with no from address. I felt the package and it didn’t feel stiff like photos would or that it had anything in it. So I opened it. To my surprise, it was a credit card application! Normally I throw anything that looks like credit card apps, junk mail etc away without opening it.
I was duped by a credit card company into opening up junk mail. :rolleyes:
Anyone else been duped into opening something you don’t normally open up because it is junk mail?
I got tricked by one - it replicated the envelopes used by local council finance departments, which have a little checklist encouraging people to return ones which aren’t addressed to their name - and yes, it turned out to be a loan application form. :dubious:
The ones I get tricked into opening will sometimes use an insignia that resembles a government agency’s seal next to its return address (but isn’t). These usually also have my name and address printed in ALL CAPS, which I have been conditioned to interpret as REALLY IMPORTANT! DO NOT THROW OUT!
I also get envelopes that say “IMPORTANT! Dated material Inside” printed on them. Sure enough, it’s for some damn credit card for which I have supposedly been pre-approved.
I have to admit I’ve also been fooled by the fake checks that loan companies like to send out to you. I’ve since learned that anybody actually sending me a check (whose dollar amount I don’t have to pay back) would not have the dollar amount explicitly printed in plain sight before even opening it.
Guess I should have been more specific. I do shred these things along with my billing statements, after payments are made of course. I just can’t believe I got duped into opening that dang thing.
Usually the ones that tip me off are the “Important” stamps or “Dated materials”. If something in the mail doesn’t come from a “known” creditor, it ends up being shred without opening. Yesterday, the sly marketers tricked me into thinking a friend or family member was sending me something. Sneaky rascals.
We actually got one a piece of junk mail that was sent certified.
Yes, certified, as in you get the little green card in your mailbox and you have to go to the clerk to sign for it.
We open it up, and it’s an offer to refinance our house at the low low rate of 1% Illegible small print at the bottom.
The stupid thing is, we get more junk mail from the same company, written in the tone of someone who is late on their mortgage payment, “This is the third time we have attempted to contact you…” blah blah blah.
A friend of mine is obsessed with junk mail. He keeps all the papers in a box. When he gets one with a no postage return envelope, he cuts up the old junk mail and stuffs the envelopes as much as he can and mails them back. His hope is that the companies have to pay the extra postage on his over stuffed envelopes. I don’t know if they do. This activity has been going on for years
This is not appropriate for the Cafe Society Forum (unless you’re seriously suggesting that spam-mail is “entertainment”), so I’m moving the discussion to a more appropriate forum.
Jeff thanks for the link, I missed that one. There is a difference between mailing a brick and mailing an envelope stuffed with paper and Cecil doesn’t completely address this. I haven’t seen the guy in question for a few years but I am sure he is still doing it
