Whether they're moving from a parent's house to a campus dorm or between off-campus apartments, most ASU students end up packing up their textbooks and possessions several times during the years they spend at the University.
Along with the time and other costs of moving, students can find themselves hit with unexpected costs from simply trying to forward their paper mail.
Websites that advertise as locations to change a person's address with the U.S. Postal Service often have hidden fees, will use the person's information to enroll them in a monthly subscription plan or may fail to register the changes, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, a federal law enforcement agency that investigates mail-related crimes.
None of these websites are affiliated with the the Postal Service.
These types of scams have been around for years, said Ken Colburn, the president of the Tempe-based Data Doctors Computer Services, which tracks online scams.
"This type of scam has been around for a while," Colburn said in an email. "I'm not sure if there is any real increase just because it’s summer."
Changing an address can be done for free or for a small fee through the U.S. Postal Service, in store, by mail, by phone or online at usps.com
The online form, which just asks for a name, old address and new address, charges a $1 fee, as does changing a registered address by phone. Mailing in or submitting a form in person is free.
While the official U.S. Postal Service site is the first non-sponsored link on a Google search for an address change, third party sites make up most of the other results.
Most of these sites do offer authentic services, said Miranda Perry, a staff writer with complaint resolution company Scambook. They're just not necessarily what the users are looking for.
"They're offering identity protection or similar services," Perry said. "They'll typically charge a monthly subscription fee, but consumers aren't looking to sign up for these monthly subscriptions. They just want to change their address."
Consumers who don't read the fine print on these sites or carefully peruse the terms and conditions they check off as agreeing to when they're filling out the information may be surprised a month later when they see unexpected charges to their bank account, she said.
The charges can reach up to $30 or $40 for services the customer didn't plan on buying or even realize they were purchasing.
"Whenever you're moving, there's a lot of things you have to get done," Perry said. "You're not necessarily taking the time to analyze what you're doing."
While the third-party sites may use the information provided to change your address with the Postal Service, there's no guarantee this will happen. Their prominence on Internet searches can cause lots of users to blindly enter their information, she said.
"You'll just go and update your information without thinking because it pops up when you Google it," Perry said. "When really, it's very easy to update this through (the Postal Service)."
Reach the managing editor at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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