I got a strange letter in the postal mail today. It was an unmarked white envelope with my address handwritten in blue ink and postmarked from Phoenix, AZ.
The letter inside is letter-headed from "American Airways"
Everything in my brain says that this is NOT LEGITIMATE.
Quote:
December 3rd, 2012
warreng24
my home address
my home address
NOTE: You must respond no later than December 12th, 2012.
Dear warreng24,
I am pleased to inform you that you have qualified for an award of 2 roundtrip airline tickets. Congratulations. These tickets are valid for travel anywhere in the Continental U.S. from any major international airport. The retail value of this award is up to $1,398.00. Certain restrictions apply.
We have attempted contacting you several times without success. This is our last attempt. If we do not hear from you soon, we may need to issue the ticket vouchers to the alternate.
Please call me today at 1-866-949-1811.
Regards,
Denise Cole
Vice President
The bottom of the letter has the words "UC-39637"
Thoughts? Anyone else ever gotten something like this?
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Premier Executive 1K just sounds better than Premier 1K
Since they have a TF number it might be worth calling for more info, but I'd wager that you'll be asked to pay some sort of "processing fee," at which point you'll know it's a scam.
It's a scam. I got something similar from "US Airlines" a few months back, virtually identically worded letter to yours. Google it and you'll quickly run across multiple similar reports.
Programs: UA 1K, AA Exec Plat, SPG Plat, HH Diamond, Hyatt Plat, Marriott Silv, PC Plat Amb, Fairmont Premier
Posts: 7,273
Most definitely sounds like a scam. You might want to report it to AA or even appropriate authorities (your state's Attorney General?) if you have the time and energy to follow up on it.
Most definitely sounds like a scam. You might want to report it to AA or even appropriate authorities (your state's Attorney General?) if you have the time and energy to follow up on it.
AA probably can't do much about it as these scammers are at least clever enough not to use an actual airline's name.
Absolutely it's a scam. Any time you receive something like that with the sentences - "We have attempted contacting you several times without success. This is our last attempt." - you can be certain it is NOT legit. They are trying to rush you into doing something you will regret.
Since you delayed, I got your voucher instead of you. Sorry.
Im on my way to Nigeria in FC, to pick up my 1,000,000 in gold bullion being held for me for a mere 10k in earnest money.
My earnest money is in checked bags - the had a guy meet me at the airport who even checked the bag for me while I checked in at the TA..great service!!
Definitely scam. Old story. Several newschannels have highlighted this scam. Some sort of travel agency trying to get people to sign up for some travel club.
As sandi88 noted, the first clue that something is amiss is that the letter came from American Airways and not American Airlines.
When in doubt you can often get a good feel for the legitimacy of such correspondence by entering the phone number into any search engine. In this case you'd see lots of reports about it being a scam.
Have you ever heard of scam baiting? I suggest we take turns calling Denise Cole at 1-866-949-1811. One could have a little fun provoking them with obscene requests!
