A scam letter is not a special legal document. It's a scripted pitch, sent as email, a fake web notice, a PDF, or paper mail, that tries to get you to send money or personal data.
That windfall story is the hook. Treat a secret partnership or urgent refund as fraud if it also wants bank details, a passport scan, or an advance fee. Look it up on an official site.
Have you already opened one of these? Don't reply, click, or call the number in the message.
What the message is actually after
Most of these notes want your login details, your identity data, or a payment you will not get back. Thing is, the official look is cover.
How sample scam letters are usually built
You don't need a downloadable template to recognize the pattern. You'll see the same bones whether the story is a trapped overseas fortune, a surprise inheritance from someone you never met, a lottery you did not enter, a remote job that pays after you buy a laptop, or a tax refund that needs a small processing fee, and they almost always want secrecy so you won't call a bank or a relative.
They often greet you as "Dear Friend" or "Dear Beneficiary." That is not how your bank writes. Then comes the trapped money, the prize, or the job, and then the rush.
Two asks show up constantly:
- Personal data "to process the transfer," such as your address, Social Security number, passport, or bank routing numbers
- An upfront fee, tax, customs charge, or gift-card code before any money comes to you
A real bank, court, or tax agency that already knows you does not need you to email routing numbers to a stranger. That request is the real tell.
Phrases worth distrusting on sight
Scammers recycle language. You'll see "urgent assistance," "confidential business proposal," "funds trapped," "act now," "risk-free," and "mutual benefit."
To be honest, a smoother letter is not safer. Some older samples were clumsy. Newer ones can read like a real office because they were generated by software. Judge the request, not the font.
Urgency is the pressure valve. The FTC's phishing guidance walks through common tactics and how to report a message you already got. A real bank or the IRS does not need a wire or a gift-card number to process a refund. That payment ask is enough reason.
The IRS page on tax scams warns that impersonators dangle a big payday, then press for personal or financial information or money. Check how the IRS says it contacts you.
Email, website, PDF, or text
| Channel | Common disguise | Safer move |
|---|---|---|
| Security alert, inheritance, prize, or unpaid tax | Don't click. Forward the message. | |
| Website | A page dressed up as a bank, IRS, or shipper | Type the real address yourself. |
| Letterhead plus a fee to release money | Don't open unexpected files. | |
| Text | Delivery failure, toll, or refund | Forward it to 7726 (SPAM). |
A lookalike web address is a giveaway. Extra words in the domain are not official. A free consumer mailbox is not a royal court, a barrister, or a government desk.
If this already landed in your inbox
Stop. Don't reply just to check if it's real. That tells them the address is live.
- Leave links and attachments alone.
- Find the real organization through a bookmark or a search you type, then use that contact path.
- If it names your bank, use the bank's app or the number on the back of your card.
- If money already moved, call that same issuer and say whether it was a card charge, an ACH debit, a wire, a P2P app, a gift card, or crypto. Recovery depends on the rail.
- Keep headers, the sender address, screenshots, and receipts.
- Report it, then you can delete the message.
Wires, gift cards, and crypto are hard to reverse, while a credit card charge follows a different dispute process at the issuer. Don't assume every payment can be pulled back.
Where to report it in the United States
File at ReportFraud.ftc.gov even if you lost nothing. Those reports help the FTC spot patterns.
Forward a phishing email to [email protected] and a phishing text to 7726, and use the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center for internet-enabled crime. Turns out many people delay because they feel foolish.
File anyway. IC3 reviews complaints and shares them with law enforcement partners. It generally will not send you an investigation status, and it does not handle every filing as its own case. You should still file the form.
What does not make the letter legitimate
A crest, a legal-sounding title, a foreign-looking phone number, or a PDF stamp proves nothing. "Tell no one" is there so you won't ask a bank, a relative, or the police.
Never pay to release an inheritance, a lottery, a refund, or a job. A real employer does not make you buy gear with your own money and wait on a stranger to reimburse you. That is a classic job sting. If someone claims to be a relative in jail, hang up and call that person on a number you already have. Don't use the number they gave.
After you file
Save the email. Save the headers. Save screenshots and any receipt if you already paid, because the report forms ask for those details and you'll be glad you kept them. Keep a paper copy too if you can.
Watch your accounts. If you typed a password into a fake page, change it and turn on two-factor authentication for email and banking. Do that before you do much else. If you sent a Social Security number or a passport image, check your credit reports and consider a fraud alert. Treat that as same-day work.
Your next step is the boring one that works: don't answer the pitch. Report it, then use only contacts you found yourself.