What you need to know about Mail Order Fraud

When the mails are used to intentionally

misrepresent a product or service it constitutes

Mail Fraud. The Royal Mail Postal Inspection

Service is charged with investigating violations

of law, usually in response to consumer

complaints.

The best way to protect yourself from Mail Fraud

is to recognise that it is fraud and not become

involved. This is not easy to do because of the

attractive wording in the deceptive ads. Anything

that sounds too good to believe is suspect.

Medical formulas and gadgets that make insane

promises are probably insane and you should stay

away from them. Especially be cautious regarding

some of the thousands of different weight loss

products and overnight cures.

Never purchase land through a mailorder ad unless

you or your personal representative has seen the

land, to determine if it is as represented and

that the value is there. If the sales person has

shown you the property report you can cancel your

purchase agreement within seven days. If no

report was shown to you before signing an

agreement you have the right to cancel out within

two years.

There are a number of insurance frauds floating

through the mails. Requests to sign blank

insurance forms, last chance bargain offers,

payments in advance and cash payment requirements

could indicate a con artist at work.

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Of course, most everyone has received chain

letters sometime in their lifetime and if you are

in the mailorder business you should get several

every day as a minimum. Chain letters are illegal

and do not work anyway. Need we say more?

We've all seen the ads offering job placement and

job opportunities. Most of them are legitimate

but some are 100% non existent or complete

misrepresentations. Do not spend your money for

the required fee until you have checked with your

local Citizen Advice Bureau or Trading Standards

Office.

Then there are those who promise huge profits

without risk in commodities, stocks, oil, gold,

silver or coins, through the mail or over the

telephone.

There are hundreds of very fine investment

opportunities offered but you can't risk your

hard earned cash, or in some cases people have

lost their life savings to mail order or

telephone swindlers.

Several of the larger, well recognised firms have

gone bankrupt through internal fraud and

management manipulations carrying their client's

investments right down the drain with them.

Always use caution and investigate the company

thoroughly before you put up one penny.

Another favourite of the crooks is home

improvements. Quite often you never see them

after you sign a contract and pay them a deposit

to do the work. If they send you brochures

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through the post and the work they perform is not

as represented by the information it could

constitute mail fraud. Get estimates from local

service companies to determine if the price of

the mailorder offering is reasonable and in line.

Check the references of the organisation.

The laws, regulations and paperwork involved in

setting up franchise operations are horrendous.

Various large distributorships are equally

difficult to establish but generally do not have

to conform to near as many controls and

regulations.

On the other hand, some mail order

distributorships and wholesale outlets require

very little effort and the home company has

little control over their activities. If profits

promised are unrealistic or if the product or

service is secondary to selling the franchise or

distributorship, proceed with caution.