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September 12, 2018 - There is a new scam making the rounds and it's a doozy! I found out about this because several people in my neighborhood have been targeted. And how likely you are to fall victim to it is probably directly related to your cheating heart… literally!
This is a low-tech scam that uses snail-mail as a delivery mechanism. It consists of a letter in which the recipient is accused of cheating on their spouse. It is peppered with enough personal information to make is sound legitimate but in truth. About midway through the letter, a payment demand is made. And it isn't chump change that people are being asked for. The copy that a neighbor shared had a payment demand of $29,000.
That payment is to be made in Bitcoin; a digital currency that can't be traced. If you fall for this scam, your money is gone and probably unrecoverable. The letter provides instructions on how to obtain Bitcoin and how to send it, just in case you have no idea how to go about the process.
And at the end of the letter comes a threat. If you don't pay, evidence of your philandering will be sent to your spouse, and just in case you think you may be able to intercept that mailing, to all of your neighbors and to members of your family. The same thing will happen if you call the police.
The neighbor of mine the letter was addressed to was actually opened by his wife. She got very upset, called him and made him come home immediately. She was none too happy when his reaction was laughter after reading the letter.
Unfortunately, we don't have any idea how widespread this scam is. Because of that, we have no idea how many people have actually fallen victim to it but we suspect that the scam could be quite effective. And there are no real barriers to entry for this scam to work. All you need is a printer for the letter, the name of the recipient and a stamp. Only you can say whether or not you could laugh it off if as a recipient of one of these letters.
byJim Malmberg
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Fraud and Scams 
