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When you move, a whole bunch of information about your move and the fact that you moved becomes available to local business owners. I'm not sure what process is

When you move, a whole bunch of information about your move and the fact that you moved becomes available to local business owners. I'm not sure what process is in place that does this (maybe a mailing-address change card you give your post office?) but it is what happens, in the US at least. Usually you'll get a coupon book for local businesses- the fact that they know you just moved in is due to the same process. Anyway, ostensibly bad actors would likely easily get in on this, and frankly it's a clever move because they know you're frazzled and in a state of being disarmed and they knowing you just moved (and where, which explains knowing the name of your electric company) gives them an air of legitimacy and that's the perfect time to strike. Also $350 is not an entirely unreasonable amount of money to ask for.

jjoonathan 4y ago
When you start a business, same thing: you start getting fake bills from fake government agencies. I'm sure many people just pay them because the hassle of reliably figuring out what's real and what isn't can easily exceed the amount of the bill.
- rtp4me 4y ago
  Yep - 100% agree. I opened a new business back in Nov/Dec 2022, and no less than two weeks did I get multiple, official-looking payment requests for labor law posters. They looked very real with some verbiage about "failure to comply with the law", etc. After I opened the first one, I was very motivated to pay the $89 fee (thinking I missed something when starting the business). However, after reading the letter a few times, I realized it was a scam. The others went in the trash as soon as they came in...
- thewebcount 4y ago
  This is so fucking infuriating. I don't know why the government can't shut these things down. They basically send you an exact copy of the official form you have to fill out with one line in it somewhere that says, "This is not an official government communication. We are not associated with the government in any way." But other than that, it looks identical to the real form. How is anyone supposed to be able to discern that difference? Luckily I've not yet fallen for it, but I have come close several times. Ass hats.
jrootabega 4y ago
I'm pretty sure the US Postal Service sells as much of your data as possible. Their Informed Delivery service seems to be primarily intended to sell ad space in your emails instead of sending you scans of your paper mail.
js2 4y ago
The USPS sells change of address information. The only way to avoid it is to file the address change as temporary instead of permanent, or not file at all and forgo USPS mail forwarding from the old address. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/08/how-the-post-office-sells-your-new-address-with-anyone-who-pays-and-the-little-known-loophole-to-opt-out/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/08/how-the-p...
- epc 4y ago
  When I move I now file a temporary COA and have the mail forwarded to a PO box. I never forward from one residence to another (too many boilerroom sales calls and scam attempts).
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dexterdog 4y ago
It's not, but when a utility asks for payment via Zelle you might want to think twice or at least check on their website first.

jjoonathan 4y ago

When you start a business, same thing: you start getting fake bills from fake government agencies. I'm sure many people just pay them because the hassle of reliably figuring out what's real and what isn't can easily exceed the amount of the bill.

rtp4me 4y ago
Yep - 100% agree. I opened a new business back in Nov/Dec 2022, and no less than two weeks did I get multiple, official-looking payment requests for labor law posters. They looked very real with some verbiage about "failure to comply with the law", etc. After I opened the first one, I was very motivated to pay the $89 fee (thinking I missed something when starting the business). However, after reading the letter a few times, I realized it was a scam. The others went in the trash as soon as they came in...
thewebcount 4y ago
This is so fucking infuriating. I don't know why the government can't shut these things down. They basically send you an exact copy of the official form you have to fill out with one line in it somewhere that says, "This is not an official government communication. We are not associated with the government in any way." But other than that, it looks identical to the real form. How is anyone supposed to be able to discern that difference? Luckily I've not yet fallen for it, but I have come close several times. Ass hats.

jrootabega 4y ago

I'm pretty sure the US Postal Service sells as much of your data as possible. Their Informed Delivery service seems to be primarily intended to sell ad space in your emails instead of sending you scans of your paper mail.

js2 4y ago

The USPS sells change of address information. The only way to avoid it is to file the address change as temporary instead of permanent, or not file at all and forgo USPS mail forwarding from the old address. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/08/how-the-post-office-sells-your-new-address-with-anyone-who-pays-and-the-little-known-loophole-to-opt-out/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamtanner/2013/07/08/how-the-p...

epc 4y ago
When I move I now file a temporary COA and have the mail forwarded to a PO box. I never forward from one residence to another (too many boilerroom sales calls and scam attempts).

deleted 4y ago

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dexterdog 4y ago

It's not, but when a utility asks for payment via Zelle you might want to think twice or at least check on their website first.