Cold Cash or Crazy Con?

Cold, hard cash may be coming to your mailbox with all the hallmarks of a scam, but is it a rip-off or it is legitimate?

Thousands of people are receiving $5 bills in a letter asking for personal information.

Key West, Florida resident Cory Held said she was surprised when she received the money.  Held, a real estate agent, said the envelope containing the crisp $5 bill was addressed to "resident."

She said she was standing in her kitchen where she routinely opens the daily mail. When she saw the money, she thought it was a scam.  The letter claimed to be from the Department of Transportation.

The $5 was an incentive to take a call from an operator and to fill out a questionnaire for personal information about "driving habits," according to the letter.

"Oh my God," she said. "I suddenly went crazy."

Held said she was cautious because there are a lot of scams, but the letter was real.

The federal government is sending out 31,000 $5 bills randomly across America.

"It's not a scam," said Ian Grossman, an associate administrator with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Grossman argues that the $20 million survey, done every four years, helps determine a $40 billion budget.

"Understandably it's the rare day when the government sends you money as opposed to asking for you to send them money," he said. "So I think that would raise some eyebrows."

Despite learning it was legitimate, Held was upset.

"I got even angrier because for the government to spend this kind of money on a mailer like this just infuriated me even more," she said.

"The reality is that participation has increased and we're getting the data we need to make decisions for America's transportation future." Grossman said.

After Held and her husband agreed to fill out the survey, which arrived priority mail with a $4.80 postmark, they each received $4 more.