Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The federal government is sending out financial aid that looks like junk mail.

They might look like a scam, but the white envelopes from an Omaha-based entity called “Money Network Cardholder Services” that many Americans received this week are surprisingly legit. Inside those envelopes, which are finally being delivered to millions of Americans, are Visa-branded debit cards loaded up with coronavirus stimulus payments from the federal government.

“It’s honestly due to sheer luck that I decided to open them, because inside one was a notice that my federal stimulus money was being disbursed to me on an enclosed prepaid debit card,” Alanna Okun, a deputy editor at Vox’s The Goods, told Recode in a message.

While she eventually activated the card and used it to purchase groceries, she said: “I am still nettled because