We all know to avoid emails from Nigerian princes claiming that they have a fortune and just need your assistance transferring their money, promising a payout if you comply and provide your SSN, bank account, etc. We all know this is a scheme aimed towards the uninformed.

THIS is a scheme aimed at the informed.

Recipients are receiving physical snail-mail letters on legitimate-looking letterhead that claim to be from Heckler & Koch firearms. These letters state that H&K is voluntarily recalling all firearms from the sporting and commercial markets in the USA. According to the letters, H&K is also ceasing its supply of all firearms to sporting and commercial markets in the USA due to the election of President Donald Trump, stating that “the German headquarters no longer deem the USA a safe destination country for weapons” due to the civil unrest in the USA.

This letter is a SCAM.

The letters seem convincing, citing various aspects of the German Constitution. The full text reads as such:

NATION WIDE RECALL NOTICE: Heckler & Koch firearms

Heckler & Koch GmbH Germany is voluntarily recalling all firearms from the sporting and commercial markets in the USA.

To whom it may concern,

As part of our company’s new responsibility policy we hereby inform you that Heckler & Koch, as of May 1st 2017, has ceased the supply of firearms to the domestic market in the United States of America. Bound by the commitment to promote the protection of peace and human rights worldover, as is enshrined in the German Constitution, Heckler & Koch’s export policy has come under ethical review.

Owing to the rise of firearm-related deaths in your country in conjunction with the threat of ongoing civil unrest and a highly volatile foreign policy under the administration of President Donald Trump, the German headquarters no longer deem the USA a safe destination country for weapons exports.

This recall is being carried out to the wholesale and retail level. Your assistance is appreciated and necessary to help our company maintain its reputation on the global market and uphold the German law.

Please fill out the enclosed response form and send it back to Heckler & Koch GmbH,  Heckler & Koch Str. 1, 78727 Oberndorf a.N. in Germany by May 12th 2017.

Gun owners who currently own or are hoping to procure H&K firearms should be concerned by this hoax letter, which cites various points that are not part of the German Constitution or are very bizarrely twisted forms of the German Constitution.

This letter is a well-executed prank carried out by the Peng Collective, an anonymous squadron of pacifist artists. Peng Collective is a joke. It is clearly a group of college students or recent graduates who can put together a fancy website but don’t know their own constitution, though they claim to be standing up for it in these letters. According to them:

We are fed up with the global weapon industry and decided to design three actions to stop them – and thus to change the German law that regulates, or currently doesn’t really regulate weapon export. Therefore, we let everyone vote what law we should pass on the the parliamentarians for them to discuss.

This is convoluted drivel. Perhaps particularly frightening is that the letters ask the recipient to fill out and submit a form, presumably revealing further personal information to them. Do NOT fill out such a form.

We feel obligated to inform our readers that this letter is a scam. Heckler & Koch is aware of this letter and issued this response. Share this with your friends to ensure they do not fill out this form or voluntarily return perfectly legal firearms due to a hoax.