Mail guides
Suspicious mail
Verify a troubling letter before treating it as ordinary advertising.
Check an annual-report filing service offer
Before you reply to a mailed offer to file your annual report, check your state filing office for whether a report is due, when and for what fee. A private service can sell filing help, but its letter does not set your deadline. Compare the two side by side.
Check a directory form that looks like a free update
A form that asks you to confirm or update a business listing can be an order for a paid directory. The FTC lists directory listings as a risk for small businesses and nonprofits. Before anyone signs, read what returning the form would authorize and identify the directory being offered.
Check a certificate-of-status offer for a business
Start with two questions: does anyone need this document from you, and who issues it? Check your state business registry's own page for the certificate, its fee and how to order it, then compare that with the mailer before paying anyone.
Check a payment request attached to an unsolicited charity gift
You may keep unordered merchandise sent by a charity as a free gift, and a donation is optional, according to the FTC. A calendar or packet of cards does not create a bill just because it arrived. Check separately if the letter claims an order or pledge you actually made.
Check a charity name that resembles one you know
If a mailed appeal uses a name close to a charity you know, confirm the exact organization before you donate or send any request. The FTC warns that some charity names resemble familiar ones. Compare the name on the mailer with the official website and contact details you find independently.
Verify a mailed domain-renewal notice
Before you pay a mailed domain-renewal notice, find out which company holds your domain. A notice can name your domain correctly and still come from another company. Your account records show who you actually pay, so start there.
Verify a letter that claims to come from the IRS
Keep the letter, and do not pay or call using the instructions printed on it. The IRS tells people who receive suspicious tax letters to verify them through official IRS resources. Look up the notice on IRS.gov, then confirm it through an IRS contact route you found there yourself.
Handle a check enclosed with an unexpected lottery letter
Do not deposit a check from an unexpected lottery letter and send part of it back for taxes, fees or processing. The FTC identifies this as a fake-check scam. Even money appearing in a bank balance does not prove the check is genuine; a fake can take weeks to be discovered.
Preserve a mailer after you paid a suspected scam
Start by calling the bank, card issuer or payment service that handled the money, using the number on your own card or statement. Next, keep the original mailer and your payment records together, and report the mailing to USPIS if you suspect mail fraud.
A mailed demand for gift-card codes is a scam
A demand to buy gift cards and send their numbers or PINs to pay a bill, government agency or fee is a scam. The FTC says legitimate businesses and agencies do not demand this payment method. Do not buy cards or send codes. This is different from using a gift card normally at the merchant that accepts it.
Verify an investment-seminar invitation
Before you register, call or attend, find out who is hosting the seminar and what they plan to sell. Confirm the host through contact details you find yourself, not the phone number or website printed on the invitation. Treat the mailing as a starting point for questions, not as a basis for any investment decision.
Check a mailed prize notice that asks for a fee
Do not pay a fee to release a prize. The FTC says demands for taxes, shipping, processing or similar payments to get a prize are scams. Keep the notice and record the demand. A real company's name may have been copied, so distinguish the demand from the identity of whoever actually sent it.
Choose between mail-fraud and delivery support routes
Report suspected mail fraud, mail theft or mail-related identity theft to USPIS. Take delivery service problems to the separate USPS route. To choose, ask whether something arrived that tried to mislead you or whether expected mail failed to arrive properly.
Check a compliance-poster sales mailing
A mailer saying your business must buy a poster does not establish that requirement. Check it with the government agency that would set the rule, then look at what the seller charges. The FTC lists government impersonation and fake invoices among scams aimed at businesses, and advises checking invoices against approved records before paying.
Help a relative verify troubling mail without taking over
Before you look at the letter, ask your relative whether they want help. Then check the sender and any payment request together, using contact details you both find independently rather than the ones printed on the letter. The letter is theirs, and so is the decision.
Check a tax-debt relief advertisement
A postcard offering to settle tax debt may be a private sales offer, even if it looks official. Identify the seller and whether the claimed tax issue is federal or state. Check federal claims through the IRS and state claims through that state's tax agency, using contact details you find independently.
Check a trademark-service mailing
A letter that cites your trademark and a deadline does not prove you owe anything. The USPTO warns that trademark records can be used in deceptive solicitations. Official USPTO communications are available in its Trademark Status and Document Retrieval system, so check that record before you respond or pay.
Treat an unexpected package separately from junk-mail ads
A package you did not order needs a different response from a printed advertisement, and an advertising opt-out will not address it. If it is addressed to you, first find out whether someone sent it as a gift or whether an order was placed. If neither explanation holds up, consider brushing, where unexpected packages are tied to fake marketplace reviews or attempts to steal information.
Handle a bill for office supplies no one ordered
Hold payment on a supply invoice until you can match it to an order someone approved. The FTC names fake invoices and unordered goods as risks for small businesses and nonprofits, and it recommends checking invoices against approved purchase records. Your first question is who could have placed the order.