More Tips on Savvy Comping

With so many lottery promotions and and similar non existent competitions coming into our inboxes these days, and even via text message, PrizeWinner thought we would take the time to provide our fans (and avid compers!) with some more tips and advice on how to avoid being caught by these unscrupulous operators who are not running genuine competitions.

Scammers are everywhere, but by being savvy to their tricks techniques, you can avoid them.

One of the major tricks used in Australia is to tell unwitting compers they have won a prize or lottery, and to them as the so-called winner to pay an up-front “fee” or one off payment to collect their prize.  These fakesmay also ask for lots of personal details that they will use to commit identity theft.  Of course, the prize will never arrive.

As a general rule, when something appears too good to be true, it usually is!  For example the other PrizeWinner got an email to its inbox from (what claimed to be) major international company claiming that if we just sent them some cash (a mere $5,000, we would get our sweepstake prize of $1,000,000.  While the sender’s name appeared to be the huge international company, when the email was opened the actual address was a lot of letters of numbers – this is sure sign that it didn’t come from the CEO!

There are unfortunately so many other examples of scams and shams that we can’t list them all.  Of course the big ones that get people are those that claim you have won something, but the other biggest way to con you in is by pulling at your heartstrings.

Unfortunately catastrophic events, are a great way for not-so-nice people to make money.  You may recall the widescale flooding across Australia in early 2011, which caused hundreds or thousands of dollars damage.  After this locals were inundated with email and SMS scams.  Regrettably, the many legitimate appeals for relief funds got lost among the bogus claims for cash.

One that comes to our mind called themselves 'Toyota Flood Relief Fund', 'Toyota International Lotto', 'Toyota Car Promotions', 'Toyota Car International Promotion Program' and 'Toyota Fortune Lotto Draw'.  A legitimate cause you would think?  No. 

In the con, members of the public were sent text messages or emails claiming they had won money and a new Toyota car.

People were attracted by the legitimacy of a big name international brand they trusted, (Toyota).  In fact, the company received so many inquiries from the public it was forced to issue a press statement denying connection with any lottery run by email or SMS. 

Closer to home, PrizeWinner recently has been receiving emails from fans saying they received SMS messages to contact us to claim their prize.  Unfortunately, because we never collect our member’s telephone numbers (only email address addresses when you join our mailing list), we would send out a text message like this.  This message is clearly a fraud, and we can’t do anything about it – we can’t help those who got the message, or track down the sender.

But what we can do is help our fans stay safe when they enter competitions to ensure they don’t get tricked like this!

So check out our tips on Staying Safe While Comping, and Claiming a Win.  And of course always contact us with your queries and questions.

What a Real Winning Email Looks Like

With so much junk emails, how can you tell you really got a winner?  PrizeWinner shows you how!

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