A reader brought this week a post card he received through the mail to the attention of the Minnesota Attorney General's Office and The Journal.

The post card offers "exciting news about your unclaimed reward" and further states that the sender is "holding $100 in gift cards for you, good at" two stores that do not have a presence in International Falls.

The post card provides a claim number and urges the receiver to call toll-free today to receive the reward.

Ben Woglsand, spokesman with the AG’s office, said the post card is likely a scam.

A Google search of "Minnesota post card scam" reveals stories written in newspapers about similar offers, and as well as an alert by the Cloquet Police Department in April 2012 about a similar post card offer that was found to be a scam.

"No. 1, we warn people to be careful of free trial offers and gifts, because usually there are strings attached," Wogsland said Monday.

He said often when people respond online or through postal solicitations, they are asked to give personal identifying information, such as bank account numbers, where a "reward" or "gift" would be deposited.

"Then," he said, "they can be victims of identity theft or the account can be drained."

And while that may be the extreme, Wogsland said by returning calls or post cards people may be unknowingly signing up for a product or service they don't realize they are agreeing to receive. He said the respondent may get a freebie, but without affirmative action to cancel or discontinue the service or product, they may be billed into the future.

Wogsland urged people to take care when responding to an offer of a free certificate or gift card and encouraged people to visit the AG's website for more information about scams.

He offered the following websites to assist Minnesotans in avoiding being the target of scams: