http://rel” rel=”nofollow”> Программист 1С An anecdotal follow-up on Corinne’s post about Minnesota’s efforts to educate its citizens about junk mail scams…….

Second, since when do local police stations refer seniors with concerns about mail fraud to Forest Ethics? Law enforcement at all levels of government is well-acquainted with the highly regarded U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and are aware that postal inspectors are charged with investigating false representations and fraudulent offers conducted through the mail. Police generally don’t get involved in investigations of this kind – they immediately turn complaints over to the Inspection Service. Tens of thousands of illegitimate “businesses” have been put out of commission thanks to the investigative skills of postal inspectors, through federal court proceedings and administrative proceedings nationwide. And postal inspectors routinely provide consumer briefings to senior centers and post information on the USPIS website (www.uspis.gov) to empower seniors and others to identify fraudulent offerings and not become victims to them.

Finally, this type of misleading solicitation has nothing whatsoever in common with the completely legitimate advertising mail that comprises 99.9 percent of the advertising mail in the U.S. mail stream. A “Do Not Mail” registry would do nothing to protect seniors from such mailings by the fly-by-night operators who conduct mail scams. Reporting such mailings – as soon as they are received – to the nearest Postal Inspection Service field office (there is also contact information on the website), and to the appropriate State’s consumer protection office, are the way to nip these scams in the bud.

Do the right thing, Will – and encourage people to contact those who are truly in a position to help, rather than lumping in scam artists (who also, by the way, operate quite freely and widely on the internet) with legitimate businesses who choose to use the mail to reach customers and prospective customers. The legit mailers hate the scam artists as much as you do.