Mail scammers target area residents

July 1, 2020

    A Cassville resident recently received the letter (above, right) in the mail, promising him a commission, plus a gift card, if he followed the sender’s instructions. The fact that the letter bore the logo of the United States Postal Service and the envelope was delivered by FedEx raised a red flag for the resident. After alerting his bank to the fraudulent scam, he was told that several area residents had previously presented such checks for deposit. The checks were denied for deposit, his banker told him, although one customer became insistent. In that scenario, if the bank deposited the check at the customer’s insistence, the depositor would be held liable when the check was later returned to the bank unpaid.
    “This is a scam,” the area resident was told. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”