Southern Californians Are Receiving GOP Mailers That Look Like Census Forms
Source: LAist
Throughout Southern California, residents are getting mailers from the Republican National Committee that look an awful lot like official Census 2020 forms, setting off alarm bells for Congressional Democrats.
The RNC mailers are labeled as "2020 Congressional District Census" and include a questionnaire and urgent instructions: "When you are finished answering your Census Document, please return it within the next 7 days to ensure accurate tabulation and dependable results."
But they are not census documents in fact, households won't begin receiving official U.S. Census Bureau mail until March.
Both U.S. Reps. Gil Cisneros, D-Yorba Linda, and Katie Porter, D-Irvine have warned constituents to read the fine print: At the end of the questionnaire, it says the mailer was paid for by the RNC, and provides information on how to make a contribution.
Read more: https://laist.com/2020/02/21/census_gop_republican_national_committee_mailers_confusion.php
CaptYossarian
(6,448 posts)Now I have to learn which Russian letters are backward for the names of my 17 children.
AllaN01Bear
(18,527 posts)CaptYossarian
(6,448 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Sending out mailers that are designed to fake people out.
I think they're trolling for suckers - they're going for the stupid, gullible voters.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,390 posts)Are they a Republican? Then they're a scammer.
Oh, OK, there are other ways, but probably not as reliable:
AARP has released a study which found that nearly half of U.S. adults have been targeted by imposter scams in the past. The Federal Trade Commission received 647,000 reports of imposter scams last year, a 50 percent increase over 2018.
...
"We've learned that scammers are very shrewd and adept at capitalizing on current events," said Kathy Stokes, director, fraud prevention programs, at AARP. "The Census has been in the news, so most people are expecting to hear soon from the Census Bureau. Scammers will use that to their advantage as they aim to deceive people into sharing sensitive information or handing over money."
...
In most of these scams, the criminals will likely contact potential victims by phone or by mail. The Census Bureau usually contacts people by mail or sends a representative to the home, but the best way to tell a real Census-taker from an imposter is by the questions that are asked.
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/aarp-warns-that-imposter-scammers-will-exploit-2020-census-022020.html
How to reports fraudulent activity to the Census Bureau: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/surveyhelp/fraudulent-activity-and-scams.html
yaesu
(8,020 posts)with anything with barr in control.
Dem2theMax
(9,655 posts)Of course they were begging for campaign contributions. I mailed it back. I told them this:
1. My mom passed away in 2012 and she was a Democrat.
2. Trump is a dictator.
3. Why are you working for a dictator? Shame on you!
And I mailed it and I put one of the American flag forever stamps on it. And I put it on upside down. I'm mailing everything with the flag upside down.
Somehow, it felt good to do such a silly little thing.
Warpy
(111,380 posts)They're a great way to up the postage on those SASE contribution envelopes.
Maxheader
(4,374 posts)for awhile...and mail it back...
SunSeeker
(51,745 posts)Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)It would be hard to get it confused with a census - it was full of "push poll" style questions. If it had return message, I would have sent it back (like I do with much junk mail, to give the post office more business)
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,047 posts)summer_in_TX
(2,762 posts)The GOP are spreading their dirty tricks far and wide.