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Marketers Dress Up Pitches to Look Official
The Direct Marketing Association's ethics committee reviews solicitations that appear to be misleading.
(The Washington Post)
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As part of the current scam, the crooks also falsely claim to be agents of Lloyd's and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, sending faxes with fake letterheads demanding payment, usually for insurance, before the winnings can be delivered.
Similar letterheads and verifications prompted Utah resident Josephine Smith, 85, to wire approximately $45,000 to a foreign bank account -- in several different transactions -- to claim $4.5 million. After Smith was first solicited for money, her son Clair Smith demanded verification from the official and the company. He initially received a fax from the "sweepstakes security commission," then others claiming to be from Lloyd's and the "customs office" in Costa Rica. Customs and Border Protection has no field offices in Costa Rica.
"I trusted my mother and the official-looking material," Clair Smith said.
The FTC's Flynn declined to say how many complaints the agency has received, noting that it is commission policy not to confirm or deny pending investigations or to comment on them.
However, she said, "it is illegal for anyone to lie about an affiliation or endorsement by a government agency or well-known organization."
Misleading mail solicitations are not new. In 1988, Congress enacted a law to combat deceptive mailings aimed at seniors by barring the misuse of any symbols, emblems or references to Social Security to convey the false impression that the letter was approved, endorsed or authorized by the government.
The current mailings designed to look as if they come from banks and government agencies stem from a simple business principle, said Kachura of the direct-mail trade association. "If you want consumers to open the envelope, you have to give them some incentive, and obviously this is one way."
Florida-based WallStreetList.com, a direct-mail firm that recently sent out the yellow letter with the Statute of Liberty and Gothic lettering on the outside, said there is no way consumers would mistake the solicitation for a check from the U.S. Treasury.
"Any government check comes in a brown envelope," chief executive Patrick English said. "It's a different color scheme completely," he said. The Statue of Liberty is "to remind you that you own property in America."
