Most of us receive a lot of junk mail. Some of the envelopes might be from credit companies offering all kinds of financial offers.

The scam comes in when – after bombarding you with tons of envelopes for a few weeks – one of the offers has a big note saying: “To opt out of receiving these notifications, call: 1-888-…”

When people call to opt out of the spam, they are asked a series of verification questions, to prove the identity of the real owner. Scammers collect the personal information that victims easily give, just to steal their identities.

How to avoid: keep throwing the junk mail into the recycle bin.