A scam letter is a document, distributed electronically or otherwise, to a recipient misrepresenting the truth with the aim of gaining an advantage in a fraudulent manner.
[1] This scam dates back to the 1580s, where the fictitious prisoner would promise to share non-existent treasure with the person who would send him money to bribe the guards.
Phishing scam letters, in short, are a notification from an online 'financial institution', requiring its clients to log into their accounts and verify or change their log-in details.
In the past, before the introduction of electronic communications, scam letters were posted by normal postal services, which had been a slow and tedious method of defrauding victims.
[6] Today many scam letters are still faxed to corporate institutions, although they are not a large amount due to cost restraints on behalf of offenders.
She conspired to commit bank, wire and mail fraud against US citizens, specifically using Internet by having an accomplice ship counterfeit checks and money orders to her from Lagos, Nigeria in November 2007.
Fiedler shipped out $609,000 fake check and money orders when arrested and prepared to send additional $1.1 million counterfeit materials.