Anybody getting bombarded with mail by supposed clairvoyants and Astologers?

trisontana

Toots wrote:

Yeah - I guess that figures.

Sorry I'm wrong. I mixing up the owner of the Express (who did make his fortune from soft-pornography) and Rupert Murdoch, owner of the News Of The World.

Mind you, after today's news about the N.O.W tapping into private telephone conversations I don't think that paper has many scruples.

welshcakes

I like the idea of utilising any pre-paid return envelopes that accompany spam. It frustrates me to think of the amount of trees cut down to produce this cwap and even recycled uses energy which pollutes.

Since the envelopes already exist, send back all their nonsense EVERYTIME. When enough people do it, the profit margins of these scammers (or should I put scummers) is going to feel the hit.

I don't for a moment consider legitimate spam such as insurance companies as scams however I have begun doing the same to them. Their rubbish, let them pay someone to dispose of it!

pepperboy

Hi this is my first post,
I would like to give the solicitor in thread no 22 a big pat on the back. I fully agree that something should be done to put a stop to this junk. They should be taken to court and made to pay these big sums of money to the victims they say "without a doubt you have won 10.000 pounds" if they were made to pay it out they would soon stop doing it. Leaving us that have be bombarded with their junk alone to spend our money on real things and not just pie in the sky. I hope the solicitor can find away to put these devils down, if I were a vet I would do it for free.:T :T

Astrocat_2

My partner, who had got into financial difficulties with credit cards and mail-order catalogues, fell for the Maria Duval scam she saw advertised in 1997, in a Sunday newspaper. She got nothing of any value for the money she sent. I did get some of the money refunded. She was also targeted by many other names, as her name had been sold on to mailing list companies. I was so angry that I set up Astrocat's Postal Scam Warning website to warn and inform others, and later the Message board, so that others could add their information.

I was saddened to read here that the same Maria Duval scam is being advertised again in the UK. I wrote to the publisher, pointing out that it is a con, but I got no reply, showing that the advertising revenue is more important to them than honesty. Maria Duval is banned in Germany, and Australia.

Despite the fact that she has not sent any money for several years, the mailshots are still arriving. Older women are targeted, because they are less suspicious, and often less well-off, though older men, as we have seen, still fall victim.

ilovegreatdanes

i received a letter only this morning from one of the clairvoyants who have pestered me for well over 2 years.i either write back asking them to send me my winnings minus their fee because if they are promising a money back guarrantee then they must be confident or i say i will send them their fee as soon as i have won with their info and i dont usually hear anything back.strange that,do you think??!!!think they got my address from a coupon i once filled in,in the news of the world and the company sold my details cos i forgot to tick the unsolicited mail box in the small print down the side.please be warned.dont forget to tick the box on your voting form either as companies get your details from there as well.

Astrocat_2

Toots wrote:

..Suite 292
34 Buckingham Palace Road
Belgravia
London
SW1W 0RH...

Toots

This address is a branch of Mail Boxes, Etc. Much used by scammers to fool the mailshot recipient, that it's a genuine person at a posh address

wantmemoney

I've just noticed this BBC Watchdog artical. It shows that these "scams" are in fact mass marketed attempts "to obtain by deception".
Considering the ammount of money UK companies like Royal Mail make from them I believe it explains why the regulators appear so reluctant to act against them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/services/services_20061212.shtml

Spring Global Mail
Watchdog investigates a mailing service that is sending scam leaflets
12 December 2006
Spring Global Mail acts as a mailing service handling leaflets and brochures for foreign companies. It sends 500 million every year and the business is worth £85 million.

But millions of these leaflets are scams. And Spring Global Mail lets the scamsters use its London address - Unit 9, Trident Way, Southall. On its website, the company says this means UK residents will be none the wiser about where the companies really come from.

We've exposed many of the scamsters before, but that hasn't stopped Spring Global Mail handling their leaflets.

The company brings the mailings into the UK, but it's the Royal Mail that delivers them to your door. And Royal Mail owns 25 per cent of Spring Global Mail. It actually makes money from the junk the company sends out.

After she was targeted by scam leaflets, Phyllis Moon, 91, wasted £5,000 on fake lotteries, miracle health cures and bogus psychics. It's taken Moon many years to discover that all the false promises were scams.

Mike Haley from the Office of Fair Trading is frustrated with Spring Global Mail. He thinks it should take more responsibility for the leaflets it distributes. Robert Keitch from the Direct Marketing Association condemns the company for knowingly handling leaflets that defraud innocent members of the public.

We paid a visit to Spring Global Mail's headquarters in Amsterdam to find out what it will and won't send in the post. Armed with a fake mailshot for a ridiculous scam, we posed as a Spanish company hoping to target the UK with a miracle slimming aid - Lose Choco-weight. It's obviously a scam, but Spring Global Mail agreed to send it to the UK regardless.

Although Spring Global Mail advised us to get the leaflet checked with the Advertising Standards Authority, it told us it would send anything we wanted in the post. It wasn't even bothered if it was a scam.

Spring Global Mail say it's responsible for the delivery of the mail, it's not responsible for the content. That's down to the customers who send it. It has a clear policy for dealing with deceptive mailings, and has terminated 13 customer contracts after the authorities ruled the content was unlawful or misleading.

Royal Mail says it has a legal obligation to carry all mail, and it doesn't have any control over its content.

If you want to avoid receiving junk mail, the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) is a free service funded by the direct mail industry to enable consumers to have their names and home addresses in the UK removed from or added to lists used by the industry.

The same excuse is given by BT etc when they carry mass marketed telecom scams.

colindonald

moffat wrote: »

Hi (first time post). I am a solicitor with a 79-yr old widower client who has been fleeced of evry last penny and more by prize scammers and clairvoyants, including the amazing Anthony Carr who can send up to six letters a day.

I am thinking of bringing a "test case" action for damages under the recent Protection From Harassment Act. If it succeeds it might make some of these dreadful predators think twice.

All I need is an "address for service" (other than the PO Box in Surrey). Can anyone give me a pointer?

I have a contact who has a post office phone number where the operator will give a full address from a postcode like GU6 8TT
email me if you still need it at: [EMAIL="colincdonald@googlemail.com"]colincdonald@googlemail.com[/EMAIL]

custardy

Spring's position regarding 'scam' mailings in the UK


Amsterdam, 23 January 2007 – Spring takes very seriously any concerns about the content of mail but as we have no powers to act as a censor, we work closely with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to identify scam mail and, where necessary, cancel contracts – to date we have cancelled 13 contracts.

It is just not possible to identify scam mail even when the mail is sent in transparent wrapping. A recent mailing claimed to be an example of scam mail was subject to legal action brought against the sender by the OFT. The judge ruled that the mailings were not illegal or scams and ordered the OFT to pay all legal costs.

We allow our customers to use Spring's UK address when they have no UK address of their own. This is standard practice for all overseas mail and is provided purely to enable undeliverable or response items to be returned to the sender. It does not mean that the mail originates from this address or that the staff in Spring's UK office are responsible for it.

We do work with the ASA and the OFT to combat the issue of scam mailings and we are the only international mail services provider to have signed an Information Sharing Protocol with the OFT.

Scam mail is a problem that is damaging not just to consumers but everyone involved in our industry. Our future is dependent on a healthy direct mail sector and this is why we constantly review the processes that we have in place to combat the issue.


What to do if you think a mailing you have received is misleading
If you think a mailing you have received is misleading, please address your complaint to:

Consumer Direct
Telephone and online consumer advice service, supported by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
Telephone: 08454 040506
Website: https://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk

Advertising Standards Authority
Oversees the British Codes of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, and handles most complaints about non-broadcast adverts, including direct mail.
Telephone: 020 7492 2222
Website: https://www.asa.org.uk

Important
Please retain a copy of the mailing, including the envelope in which the mailing was delivered.

from springs site

custardy

colindonald wrote: »

I have a contact who has a post office phone number where the operator will give a full address from a postcode like GU6 8TT
email me if you still need it at: [EMAIL="colincdonald@googlemail.com"]colincdonald@googlemail.com[/EMAIL]

the post code ofr a po box is the location of the po box.you would need the account holders details