US Taxpayer Census on Social Security ... from Christian Seniors Association!

[BattyDem]

This really pisses me off!

My mother got this in the mail today. The envelope says:

U.S. Taxpayer Census
Do Not Tamper: Reply Within 5 Days

When she told me she got a census form, I knew something was wrong because one had been done in 2000.

The letter inside is titled:
"US Taxpayer Census on the Social Security Preservation Act (HR 219)"

It says she is one of the seniors who was chosen to represent our city in their census. It goes on to describe HR 219 and how they need money to fight for it in Congress in order to get it passed ... and then they ask for a donation (of course).

The "census form" asks several questions about Social Security - no personal questions, but they already have her name and address ... and they are obviously aware of her age. The final "question" on the form asks for a donation and explains the benefits that members receive. The fine print says they are fighting the ACLU's 40 year war on Christianity. (The letter says they are the alternative to the "ultra-liberal" organization ... AARP!) :eyes:

I know this is a bullshit solicitation and I have no problem with organizations asking for money ... but I have a HUGE problem with them making their solicitation appear to be part of a US Census - especially when they're targeting seniors! NOTE: They don't use the words "US Government" or "US Census Bureau" anywhere in their documents, but the words "U.S. Taxpayer Census" were enough to make my mother get uptight about it. She is 71 years old and she's intelligent enough not to fall for this shit, but even she asked me if she could get in trouble for not filling out a "US Taxpayer Census." When I assured her that she wouldn't because there was nothing official about it, she was relieved, but she still doesn't want to throw it away ... just in case :shrug: (It's amazing ... all these slime balls have to do is put "U.S." and "Census" on something and even intelligent people automatically think it's some kind of government document!)

Imagine all the seniors who are receiving this: some are "not as sharp" as they used to be; some may not be well educated or savvy enough to recognize this as a solicitation; some may believe it's a scam, but like my mother, get nervous because it says "US Taxpayer Census" - so they'll fill it out and send money anyway ... just in case.

DUers ... be sure to give the seniors in your life a "heads up" on this. We don't want them giving their money away because they mistakenly think it's part of a US Census!

[Rainscents]

1. You should contact Attorney General in your state ASAP!!!

And also, contact Teevee media! This shit need to be exposed!

[BattyDem]

3. I told my mother I was going to contact the AG, but ...

she's nervous about "starting trouble." I don't want to do it without her consent because if she's contacted by the AG, she'll get upset. I'll try talking to her again in a few days.

BUT ... on the form, they list "State Registration and Compliance Information." (They've obviously been reported in the past and they're providing info before anyone asks for it, LOL!) It says they are registered with the Attorney General in my state - I checked; they are.

My guess is that they have gotten some high-powered lawyers to create a form that looks like it should be illegal, but isn't. They're probably walking that fine line between legal and illegal. :-(

[MiniMe]

14. Or the postmaster. I think those kind of things may fall under the postmaster

[nicknameless]

16. Yes. U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Mail Fraud Complaint Form:
https://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm

You have to select a category for the complaint. Maybe “False Bill or Notice” --> “Taxes”?


Info: Mail fraud against seniors:
http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/seniorwk.htm


Info: Gov’t. look-alike fraud info:
http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/govtlook.htm


The poster can also contact the Federal Trade Commission

... Or could have, before her mom ripped up the letter. ;)

[williesgirl]

2. k&r - they'll stop at nothing

[Cleita]

4. There's a lot of misrepresentation going on.

I keep getting telephone calls that state that they are conducting a survey for the county involving property. Sounds official doesn't it? Then they go into a spin about how there is a better mortgage rate available. That's when I hang up.

We gotta nail these grifters and put them out of business.

[acmejack]

5. Post all the information here!

We can all alert our respective Attorneys General.

[BattyDem]

6. Not much else to tell

The letter is several pages, so I'm not going to post all of it here. My only problem is with the words "US Taxpayer Census" printed on the envelope and on the letter. It "sounds" official and I'm concerned that many seniors may not realize that it isn't. This organization has been around for a while, so I'm willing to bet that they have attorneys who make sure they aren't breaking any laws. :-(

AARP posted an article about them three years ago: http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/consumer/a2003-08-19-crusaders.html


I'll probably send a copy of the letter to AARP. My mother's a member, so I don't think she'll have any objections. They're a national organization with political clout - if anything can be done about this, they'll do it. :-)

[acmejack]

7. Amazing that they are still at it.

You would think they would have stopped them from conning unsuspecting people.

[BattyDem]

8. I honestly think they have lawyers who help them dance around the law

They must exploit every loophole and technicality they can find! They go as far as they can go - without actually breaking any laws. :-(

[eridani]

9. How many states has this turned up in?

Please keep us posted. We need to let every state AG know about this.

[BattyDem]

10. I don't know - it's the first time I've seen it.

I did a Google and searched Snopes, but I couldn't find anything about this particular letter. Maybe it's new. :shrug:

[Nicole]

11. LMAO!

I did a search on Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, the Traditional Values Coalition Chairman. One of the google links was from DU. :rofl:

The Top Ten Conservative Idiots (Week 39)
October 8, 2001

http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/01/top10_2001_39.html

This guy is an idiot. Looks like Skinner & Co. called it back in 2001.

He was also involved with Jack Abramoff, according to Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Sheldon

I hope your mother doesn't send this crook anything.

[starroute]

12. This has been going on for years

These direct fund solicitation outfits are notorious for conning old ladies, for sending out mailings make to look like official documents, and for getting into trouble with the states for not registering properly.

The organizations they represent also exchange mailing lists with one another through list-brokers. A couple of years ago, when I was looking into them, the Christian Seniors Association was listed on one site as exchanging lists with the Heritage Foundation, Freedom Alliance (Ollie North's group), Parents Television Council (the one that's responsible for 98% of complaints about "indecency"), Save Our Scouts (an anti-gay group), the Seniors Coalition (an astroturf drug company front), and We the People Institute (a racist group).

According to an article which appeared in the New York Times in March 2005, one of the direct-mail firms, Response Unlimited, actually got a list from Terri Schiavo's parents of their supporters and was renting it out at $150 a month for each thousand names or email addresses.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29donate.html?ex=1269752400&en=f1312f1b5ae170ad&ei=5090

Even some mainstream politicians use the fake-document scam, but it's these marginal groups like Christian Seniors that really push it beyond any sense of shame.

[BattyDem]

13. Well ... the letter's gone

I wanted to send it to AARP, so I asked my mother to give it to me. I also told her that many DUers suggested sending it to the AG and/or other authorities. Now she's mad at me for mentioning it on DU, even though I was just trying warn others about it. She doesn't want any trouble - she thinks she'll be harrassed or dragged into some kind of investigation ... whatever. :eyes:

Anyway, it's shredded and it went out with tonight's trash. So ... like I said before, warn the senior's in your life about this thing and hopefully, no one will fall for it. :-)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

18. Tell her it's OK to be dragged into some kind of investigation

when it's somebody else who's going to get the shaft! :evilgrin:

[BattyDem]

19. I agree, LOL!

:evilgrin:

What made matters worse ... someone sent me a PM last night and offered to show the letter to someone who is in a position to possibly do something about it. That was really the tipping point for her "panic attack" last night, LOL!

Earlier, she told me that I could post the info on DU, but she got a bit uptight when everyone said the same thing I did: report the letter to the authorities. I told her she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to do, so everything was fine. Later on, when I told her about the PM, she misunderstood and thought the person was able to contact me because he knew my real name. She said I shouldn't have posted it if someone could track me down. That's when she shredded it and told me to post a message telling everyone that it was destroyed. When she relaxed a bit, I explained what PM was and how it worked. I assured her that no one would be knocking on her door because she didn't do anything.

Before going to bed, she said, "I won't get in trouble for not responding, right?" :banghead: I said, "Mom ... it's JUNK mail ... nothing more!! Don't worry. No one's going to come after you. It's not illegal to shred junk mail that you receive! You are under no obligation to respond to it or to show it to anyone." :crazy:

Can you believe this? Just because the damn letter had three little words - "US Taxpayer Census" - my mother got all stressed out over a solicitation from a RW charity. :grr:

[BattyDem]

15. My mother wanted me to clarify something ...

In Post #13, I said that "she's mad at me for mentioning it on DU, even though I was just trying warn others about it."

Well ... now she's concerned that I made it sound like she didn't want me to warn DUers in the first place, when in fact, she did. So ... she asked me to post yet another message and tell you all that she loves DU (she reads everything I print out for her) and she wanted DUers to know about the misleading letter. However, when I told her that everyone suggested she should contact the authorities, she got very nervous because the whole thing makes her uneasy. She just didn't want to deal with it, so she shredded it. :shrug:

I'll probably still contact AARP just to give them a "heads up" about it. Seniors usually contact them when they have questions about this kind of thing, so I'm sure they'll be hearing from other people, if they haven't already.

So anyway ... that's why I'm here again - over an hour after I signed off to try and get some sleep. It's 3:30 am and the only reason I'm still awake is because I suffer from chronic pain and I can't sleep; Mom's still awake because she fell asleep earlier this evening, woke up at about 1:00 am and now she can't get back to sleep! It's been a loooong night in our house, LOL!

Goodnight DU!

[acmejack]

17. Take care BD.

A belated goodnight!

[bobbolink]

20. I'm sure you already have plenty to do,

I'm sure you have plenty to do, but I'm going to suggest one other thing, as a way to warn other seniors. I used to live in a building with lots of seniors, and there was a staff person called "resources coordinator". She used to get reports of stuff like this, and not only warn seniors about it, but put it into the building newsletter, so all would read about it and know what it was about.

I'm sure that various "resources coordinators" communicate with each other, so if you were to call one in a building and report this, I'm confident the info would be circulated among various senior residences.

Thank you for posting this warning. It's too bad your mother was more frightened than angry, but that's a common response, and that's what makes these things so damaging. if you think about it, that's abuse--frightening victims into silence

[BattyDem]

21. That's a really good idea.

There's a senior building about a half mile away - I could stop by and talk to someone. Thanks for the advice. :hi:

You know ... I honestly don't know why my mother got so freaked out. Usually, she shows me the letter (or whatever it is that she has a question about) and I explain it to her. Then everything's fine. But this thing really made her nervous. It was so unlike her to get stressed out about something like this. She was very angry when I told her it was a RW fundraising ploy. However, she couldn't let go of the idea that it was somehow connected to the government and she was going to get in trouble if she didn't respond or she would be put on some kind of government list if she reported it!

As I said in a previous post, I print out a lot of DU stuff for her to read, so she knows what the deal is with BushCo and their tactics make her nervous. Also, she saw the video of that student being tasered on Olbermann - which really upset her - so I guess that was on her mind and it made her a bit unreasonable about the whole thing.

Before going to bed, she asked me one last time if she could get in trouble for not responding. :eyes: I thought for sure that I'd wake up this morning and she'd make me dig through the garbage and try to piece the shredded paper together, LOL! But get this ... she hasn't mentioned it at all today. Not once. She hasn't even asked if any other DUer has contacted me. Not a single word. Go figure! :shrug: :crazy:

[bobbolink]

22. ~~giggle~~ You going through the garbage and piecing together

shredded parts--that's a great mental image. I'm glad there's at least a teensy bit of humor in this. :hi:

Is there by any chance someone you know who is a lawyer, and could explain it to her? Someone in a church, or something?

I'm asking because I really sympathize with you for trying to reassure your mother, when it looks really unreasonable.

At the same time, I can understand, well, just a little, why she may be freaking about it. Sounds like she feels very vulnerable, and I can understand that part. Too bad she's projecting it onto something that just doesn't connect.

You have my permission to hit something (soft!) after she's asleep!
:rofl: It must be very frustrating... :pals:

[BattyDem]

23. She hasn't mentioned it at all today - so I'm not saying a word, LOL!

I have a second cousin who is a lawyer, so if I really needed to, I could contact her ... but it's no longer an issue. I can't figure it out. Suddenly, it's not a problem. I know she's not upset because she definitely would have mentioned it today if she was.

I don't know why she was so nervous about it last night. You mentioned that it sounded like she was feeling vunerable. Well ... yesterday was my birthday. My father died 5 years ago and he was probably on her mind because it was my birthday. It's certainly possible that she was feeling a bit more vunerable as a result. That's really the only explanation that makes sense. As I've said, she normally doesn't get freaked out about stuff like that because she trusts me. It was just a bad night! :eyes:

I'm not saying another word about it. I'm just happy she's no longer stressing out. If she ever brings it up again, I'm leaving town! ;-)

[bobbolink]

24. Happy Birthday! (better late, etc...)

:party: :bounce: :party: :bounce:

Glad to hear that things are calmer, cuz I'd sure hate for you to have to leave town! :)

And, thanks for taking seriously my suggestion about contacting senior buildings. This is the kind of thing they need to be warned about.

:hi: :hi: :hi:

[BattyDem]

25. Thank you!

:hi: