Lower than low

[Adam West]

When I thought I have seen just about every scam out there, I think I have run into another one which if it is one, is about as low as you can go.

My wife called me the other day and said she received an upsetting piece of mail. In a nutshell, it was a sympathy card about my death and inside a handwritten note from the person who sent it talking about how they knew me in Elementary school, High School, etc.

I took a look at it this morning and got a bit skeptical. This wasn't a typical sympathy card. It was a card with a lot of prayers on it and that some special mass was being said in my name, etc. Inside the card was my name but had my middle initial which was wrong....it is L. not J. as listed. The person who wrote the letter (it was handwritten) talked very vaguely of attending an elementary school with me during the year I was born (the elementary school was wrong), the high school was wrong, so my wife immediately thought of contacting the sender to tell them they had sent it to the wrong person....I'm alive and well the last time I checked.

Then I looked at the card again and on the very last page talked about some bizarre church name that did not even slightly ring a bell and thought how odd it was for a church to explain who they were in a sympathy card.

I told my wife not to respond to the sender because chances are, this person is trying to pull some type of scam and pull on the emotion strings to part us with our money.

My wife was genuinely upset at receiving the card because it did have my name and it was spelled correctly except the middle initial but all of the facts in the personal note were wrong. It isn't hard to look things up on the internet.

Maybe it was a genuine mistake but if something walks like a duck....

Anyway, just a warning in case any of you receive something similar.

[mitchedwards]

WOW... Have you tried googling the church's name? Perhaps others have had the same card sent to them

[toys2cool]

wow,that's pretty weird.Maybe it was a mistake..but you did the right thing,I would'nt have replied either

[Earth 2 Chris]

If that's a scam it is indeed disgustingly low. Like Mitch suggested, I'd google the name and look into it a bit further.

Chris

[Seeker]

Geez imagine getting a letter that says YOU are dead. What a way to start the day.

[saildog]

Geez imagine getting a letter that says YOU are dead. What a way to start the day.

I keep getting faxes at work from my future self.

[jwyblejr]

Wonder if maybe you should have the local BBB look into it?

[Seeker]

I keep getting faxes at work from my future self.

[apes3978]

Wonder if maybe you should have the local BBB look into it?

I'd say rather than the Better Business Bureau, turn it over to the Postal Authorities since this sounds like it may be some sort of mail fraud...

[Adam West]

Here's an update:

I googled the name of the organization and it is legit...it is the Marianist Spirtual Alliance which apparently prints prayer cards for Catholic funerals and special mass requests.

I then googled my name with the incorrect middle initial and there was an obituary in The Baltimore Sun!

What is more bizarre is that I do not have a common last name and most every person who shares my last name in Maryland is a cousin or other relative that I know but not this one. His wife and my wife have the same first name and apparently, he was the brother of someone named Nancy which is the name of my mom....kind of spooky.

I re-read the letter and it appears that this was a childhood friend who hadn't seen him in years and talked about meeting him in grade school in 1968, the same year I was born.

I'm sure he looked me up in the white pages and figured there was no way there was a husband and wife of the same name living in Maryland especially with fairly uncommon last name.

I will now go through the awkward process of mailing the card back to the sender to let him know he reached the wrong person, that I am alive and well. I do have to say it was a surreal experience to be reading a sympathy card addressed to my family.

Just a good reminder that life is short and everyday should be lived as though it were your last.

[megoscott]

I thought it must have been something like that. I couldn't figure out what the fraud was going to be. Assuming your wife knows you aren't dead...

[Adam West]

It was just creepy that we had some weird dates that corresponded to one another.

I feel like a character on LOST.

[saildog]

That a weird series of coincidences, to be sure.

You're remarkable in that you took the time to do a little research to find out what was up and indeed, there is a rational explanation. Most people would be content to just accept that it came from a parallel universe where one of their multi-selves had died.

I think it is very cool of you to take the time to mail it back to the sender. Again, not everyone would take the time to that even if it did occur to them that they should.