Chapter 19. Lottery and contest scams
Conmen know that everyone loves to win a prize. As a result, phony prize scams are rampant. It is hard enough to win a prize when you have entered a legitimate sweepstakes, but when you are notified that you have won a contest that you never even entered, you should be hearing “Danger Will Robinson” ringing in your head even if you never watched the old television show Lost in Space.
One form of a contest prize scam requires you to buy something to qualify for the prize that you have “won.” Generally, the things you are required to buy are particularly overpriced when compared to the prize that you have supposedly won.
Another common lottery scam involves up-front fees that you are required to pay to claim your ...
Get The Truth About Avoiding Scams now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
