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An ungrammatical and randomly capitalized flyer promising big bucks in exchange for personal information is circulating among D.C.’s public housing residents, according to the agency that oversees more than four dozen subsidized properties in the District.
“Congrats!” it begins, as many scams do. “You have been selected to receive A $150 dollar visa gift card from the DC Housing Authority. You will have to fill out the form and send it with the envelope and mailing stamp that we provided.” DCHA’s official logo and the name of its executive director, Adrianne Todman, appear at the top of the flyer, which asks for a resident’s Social Security number, date of birth, and other details by a “deadline” of Sept. 20. A spokeswoman for the authority says it’s unclear who’s behind the sham and whether any public housing beneficiaries have provided their information. She adds that it came to officials’ attention via Twitter and that police have been notified.
“The document below was NOT created or distributed by DCHA,” the authority says in an alert. “Please DO NOT respond to the flyer and discourage anyone else from providing their personal information.” The spokeswoman adds that recipients should contact DCHA or the police.
Apparently, this isn’t the only fraudulent scheme making its way around the District today. The D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles says in a release that emails from “info@localmailserver.info” are telling customers they owe money for past due traffic tickets. In reality, photo enforcement tickets are mailed to drivers’ addresses based on tag numbers. The DMV says those who receive this phishing scam should report it to the Federal Trade Commission.
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