Something didn't smell right, and it certainly wasn't carbon monoxide.
Alert constituents and an inquisitive state senator's office apparently halted a mail scam attempting to con homeowners, based on a new state law requiring carbon monoxide alarms.
The scam was apparently run from a post office box directly across the street from the state Capitol, where lawmakers last year passed SB 183, which requires the alarms as a way to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning deaths.
"It's absolutely brazen," said Mark Spannagel, chief of staff for state Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, who said about a dozen constituents reported receiving letters asking them to send $76 in order to comply with the law and avoid a possible fine. LaMalfa's district covers parts of Placer, Yuba and Nevada counties.
The letters, from the so-called Housing and Safety Association, began appearing in mailboxes late last week. The sender's address: a postal box in a mailbox center on L Street.
"They're trying to palm this off as being an official-looking document," said Spannagel, who said the association doesn't appear to exist in any state business filings, the phone number goes to a dead end, and the mailbox permit appears fictitious.
"It's a basic scam: 'Send us $76' for something that would cost you 20 bucks, and there's no guarantee you'd ever receive it."
At Home Depot, for instance, carbon monoxide alarms start as low as $18.
LaMalfa's office credited the owner of Downtown Mail & Shipping with immediately shutting down the mailbox account and returning any letters received back to the senders. In addition, Spannagel said the state attorney general's office and postal authorities have been notified.
The letter isn't entirely inaccurate. Under the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act passed in May 2010, similar to laws on smoke detectors, a carbon monoxide alarm is currently required for single-family homes. The law will apply to multi-unit dwellings as of Jan. 1, 2013. Failure to comply could result in a $200 fine.
Ironically, LaMalfa, a farmer and former assemblyman who represents mostly rural counties, said he would have been "strongly opposed" to the bill if he'd been in office last year.
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