Picture this. You receive an article in your in-box at work or your mailbox at home that appears to have been torn out of a magazine. Attached to the article is a hand written note on a yellow "sticky" addressed to you by name. "Try this. It's really good!" The signature simply says "J." Could this have come from one of your co-workers or a friend?

Clips such as these are actually advertisements crafted to look like an independent review, complete with a personal endorsement. These types of ads are also known as "masquer-ads" - advertisements disguised as something else to catch the consumer's attention.

Many consumers receive scores of advertising every day in through their mailboxes, newspapers, television, telephones and, computers. But not everything that comes through your mail is what it appears to be. "Masquer-ads" can arrive in official-looking envelopes or mock express delivery packets. Sometimes they bear return addresses with names just close enough to a real agency or organization to sound convincing -- "Social Security Agency," for example, instead of "Social Security Administration." Sometimes they appear to contain actual checks or notification of a contest the receiver has won. And sometimes, they look more like personalized letters than bulk mailings, featuring a 37-cent stamp or a handwritten address.

So, how can you tell the real ads from deceptive ads? Read your mail carefully and look for these red flags:

• Government-like logos or addresses that make the information look
   important.
• Magazine solicitations that look like renewal notices.
• Checks that, if cashed, switch your telephone carrier.
• Simulated checks that invite credit applications.
• Companies or organizations with "sound-alike" names that play
  on the reputations of others.
• Solicitations personalized with handwritten addresses or first-class
  stamps.
• Mailings that imply a personal endorsement from someone you
   know.
• Ads disguised as personal letters, news stories or independent
   reviews.
• Endorsements with the word "advertisement" inconspicuously
   placed or in tiny print.

If you have a complaint about an advertisement, contact Erin Jones at the San Diego Better Business Bureau, (858) 637-6199.

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RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol) has some new "Stars:" A new nametag with NINE stars was given to Helen Harte for nine years of volunteer service; EIGHT stars given to Maury Eis, Ben Franchi, Toni Edberg, Marie Graver and Bob Showalter; FIVE stars to Bob Bertschy and Tom Loftis; FOUR stars to Ralph Mulroy, Jean Richmond and Bob Serrano.

Two new graduates from the RSVP Academy: Frank Maclachlan and Norm Murkoff and new member Vern Hudson from Scripps Mira Mesa, with 5 years of RSVP volunteering, were introduced at the monthly meeting.

Six Field Training Officers (FTO) recently graduated and were awarded their new pins: Lola Bellinger, John Dussault, Stan Gingold, Clint Henderson, Mary Herman and Richard Rycus.