Phishing via US Mail

I received a bill in the mail over the weekend that set me off. I am not sure if I should call Time Magazine and talk to one of the operators there, as if that would get me anywhere, or let the post office know that I received what I believe to be a blatant attempt at getting financial information from me, by fraudulent means.

The bill looks official. Similar to the phishing bills I have received through emails. I once received one from a fake AOL, which asked for me to fill in my name, credit card numbers, ATM numbers, pins, mother's maiden name, social security number, and of course the one thing that AOL says it will never ask for....My password. I didn't fall for this, but I suspect a pretty large percentage of people do fill out this kind of thing and end up being victims of identity theft, or credit card fraud. If they send out enough, they are bound to get some hits.

The bill I received this weekend was called an INVOICE at the top of the bill, telling me I owed $52.08 for 56 issues of Time Magazine. Pretty cheap, in my opinion. The bottom of the bill was headed with DEMAND FOR DELINQUENT PAYMENT. Here is what it said;

Dear Ms Epstein:
PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS REQUEST FOR YOUR OVERDUE BALANCE.

We have spent months trying to collect the amount you owe regarding your TIME subscription. Your outstanding debt totals $52.08. Send your OVERDUE BALANCE with the INVOICE no later than 11/12/05.

If your bill is in error YOU MUST CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY AT 1-800-BLABLAH.

Otherwise, return your INVOICE with the TOTAL AMOUNT DUE today.


I have never heard of a business that writes, we have spent months trying to collect the amount, et al. I knew it was bogus. Not only because of that sentence, but because I let our subscription to Time expire about six months ago. We simply had no time to read it every week.

I called the 800 number and put in the account number on the INVOICE and of course it couldn't recognize the number and I was prompted to put in the credit card number I had used to originally subscribed to the magazine! Like that was going to happen!

I waited for an operator to assist me for about four minutes. A man comes on and asks my account number. He tells me that I am delinquent and I need to pay the bill. I told him I have not received the magazine in about six months. He told me it was in June. Okay, five months then. I asked him why I was receiving a bill at all. He told me that I was signed up for auto renewal. I told him if I was signed up for auto renewal, then it would have automatically done so, with my credit card. He asked me to hold on. He comes back on the line and asks me what I would like him to do. I told him to cancel my supposed subscription immediately. He told me he would and told me if I got another INVOICE, to disregard it!

So, I have this bogus bill. I suppose I could attempt to contact somebody higher up than an operator at Time to let them know this is going on. I also suppose they already know. I could contact the USPS and tell them that I was sent a bogus bill through the mail, which I believe is illegal. I could be wrong. But, I will probably do what I am doing now and just tell you all to be careful and watch out for these kinds of things.

Since we have become so high tech, with pins and credit cards, a new word has come into play. It is called phishing. It is an attempt to get personal information out of us. We should all know by now, what to look for, but just in case, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Never give out your password or pin number to anybody.
Never give out your credit card or ATM numbers to anybody you don't know as reputable.
Make sure you take your copy and that the business does not show all the numbers on even their receipt.
Never give out your social security number or mother's maiden name. If you do, make sure you know who you are giving the info to. Like the DMV, when buying a car or house! Not to Joe Schmo off the street, in a phone call, or even on the internet.
Pay attention to the wording. Many of these phishing emails come from other countries. English is not their first language and they make grammatical errors. Look for them.
And finally, always verify. This could save you a lot of major grief down the line.