Some citizens are getting mail addressed to street addresses only. No name is included in the address. The return address is official looking from the Census Bureau.

These questions are inquiring about housing, age, education and how much income from various sources one receives.

Recently television has exposed some scams using government return addresses and warned not to respond. Is this a scam or legitimate? If legitimate, what are the consequences of not responding?

Without seeing the documents in question, The Informer can only speculate.

But what you describe sounds like the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which gathers data to complement the decennial head count.

True survey forms come accompanied by a letter addressed to “resident” and signed by the bureau’s director.

The ACS, a replacement for the long-form questionnaire the census used to send every 10 years, includes questions on age, race, income, commuting, health insurance, education and living expenses.

“Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year … ,” reads the Census Bureau’s website.

“All this detail is combined into statistics that are used to help decide everything from school lunch programs to new hospitals.”

The agency says it sends out over 3 million ACS forms each year, and — as with the decennial form — federal law requires people to complete the questionnaire. Those who fail to do so, along with those who fail to truthfully do so, can be fined.

The information submitted is confidential; census workers who disclose any of it can be fined and sentenced to prison.

If you’re unsure whether the questionnaire is genuine, call the Census Bureau’s regional office in Atlanta at 800-424-6974 and ask if your address is part of the survey.

The official ACS form will include the option to complete the survey online at https://respond.census.gov/acs, and it will list the following postal address: U.S. Census Bureau, P.O. Box 5240, Jeffersonville, IN 47199-5240.

Information that bona fide census officials will never request, according to the bureau’s site:

Full Social Security numbers.

Fees or donations.

“Anything on behalf of a political party.”

Full bank or credit card account numbers.

The maiden name of the contacted person’s mother.

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Online: www.census.gov.

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The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.(MGNonline)