We've made some changed to Competitions Time. Please see this thread.

Competition Scams - Please Post Them Here

Unfortunately there are a lot of scam competitions about these days, one of the top ones being you have won a holiday and pay this admin fee to get it. 99.9% of the time you pay your money and never get your holiday.

Due to popular demand This thread has been created so all scams can be posted here, so hopefully no MSE'rs will get caught out and lose any money!!

One word of warning for you all. If you win a competition you should never have to pay for anything to get the prize ie. admin fee etc.....



This thread is only for competition scams. Any other warnings or rip offs should be placed here
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Comments

  • hrafndot
    hrafndot Posts: 2,155 Forumite
    I have just been hit by a particularly nasty competition scam/phoney award. I have seen a lot, but this had an element of credibility which fooled me and raised my hopes since I could really do with the prize at the moment.

    I received a letter from a Canadian Co called Amante Art of Montreal Canada. It gave a freephone no. to ring (at was 0800 so I assume it was freephone). I spoke to a Canadian sounding man who gave me a looooong spiel (he did offer to call me back so he has also got my phone no). He then gave a talk on tax being due, which I know should be shouldered by the promoter. Basically he said I had won a number of things and if I was prepared to display one of their paintings they could invoice me for the paintings and the tax loophole meant that I would get the two cash prizes free of tax. He said that I had won anyway, but there was an element of choice so I had to listen further.

    The minute he mentioned an invoice, in the sum of £450 I stopped the conversation etc.

    What worries me is the intricacy of the conversation he managed to weave during a conversation in which you would be thinking that you had won a significant prize (i.e. a cruise to the Bahamas) so your guard would not be up so much, since you were also looking at a printed letterhead FREEFOND NUMBER and an envelope from Canada He did ask me why I didn't sound excited!!!!

    Basically this character has obtained information (in some way) from a company that has run an internet competition (I know that because I use a distinctive bit of information on internet entries). This bit of information was typed on the envelope and letter that was mailed to me in what I am convinved was an attempt to defraud.


    thanks Hrafndot, meanwhile be warned!!
  • hrafndot
    hrafndot Posts: 2,155 Forumite
    Compass Global Warehousing and Delivery

    A sealed insured envlelope containing your prize of £3,920 is awaiting you at our office

    These are vouchers, and they charge you an £8.00 fee.

    Grande Prix Awards

    Car or 11,000. Send tiebreaker to a Praed Street Paddington address TOGETHER WITH the 9.99 processing fee (IF THEY ARE GIVING YOU A CAR, WHY ARE THEY BEING SUCH SKINFLINTS ABOUT THE AWARD PROCESSING?
  • i had a phone call today from mutual.com (who ever they are ) saying i had won a holiday through a competition i enter a couple of month ago , they gave me a security code and a free phone number to ring and claim my prize .
    me being very sinicle was like yeh what ever , but with it being a free phone number i rang it any way , and apparently i had won a holiday for four to tenirefe to be taken within the next 18 months
    (altho sinicle im still listening at this point )
    and for ringing straight away i also got bonus vouchers for m&s .
    she started to ask me details of my address so she could send out the paper work and confirmation
    and im still going along with it up to the point were she said
    "all we need is your credit card number as there is a booking fee of £49.99 per person , that is needed straight away "



    i just laughed and put the phone down i mean do they really think that im going to give a stranger phone credit card details over the phone just because they say i have won a competition .
    thing is someone might fall for it so please everyone
    BEWARE
    Free of dept Thanks Martin
    :T :beer: beers are on me
  • alexandra1
    alexandra1 Posts: 285 Forumite
    If like me you do not keep a record of freebies and competitions sent for, the following information may save you some money. Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place.

    Important Police Information

    If you receive a card through your door from a compamny called PDS (parcel delivery service) saying they have a parcel awaiting delivery instructions and give you a contact number 0906 6611911.

    Do not call this number, it is a mail scam, if you do hear a recorded message then you willbe billed. This particular service referred to used a recorded message which lasted a maximum of 6 minutes - making the total cost £9



    http://www.hertschamber.com/news/full.html?id=211

    Everyone must be on guard against scams, but seniors can be more vulnerable to fraud. Some seniors are trusting and willing to believe what people tell them. Many crooks—and even friends and family members—take advantage of the good nature of seniors to cheat them.
    Seniors aged 60 and older account for about 15 percent of the U.S. population, yet according to some estimates they comprise 30 percent of fraud victims. :mad:

    If you have Elderly parents, here is a useful link that lists a lot of the scams targeting the elderly: http://www.consumer-action.org/archi...cams/index.php

    This is an American site so all the information may not be relevant but most of the scams are.

    UK site http://www.seniorsnetwork.co.uk/scams/scams3.htm
    He who laughs last thinks slowest.

    I wished the buck stopped here as I could use a few.

    Why do Americans sing "Take me out to the ball game" when they
    are already there?
  • sparky61
    sparky61 Posts: 10,422
    First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    i had a phone call today from mutual.com (who ever they are ) saying i had won a holiday through a competition i enter a couple of month ago , they gave me a security code and a free phone number to ring and claim my prize .
    me being very sinicle was like yeh what ever , but with it being a free phone number i rang it any way , and apparently i had won a holiday for four to tenirefe to be taken within the next 18 months
    (altho sinicle im still listening at this point )
    and for ringing straight away i also got bonus vouchers for m&s .
    she started to ask me details of my address so she could send out the paper work and confirmation
    and im still going along with it up to the point were she said
    "all we need is your credit card number as there is a booking fee of £49.99 per person , that is needed straight away "
    i just laughed and put the phone down i mean do they really think that im going to give a stranger phone credit card details over the phone just because they say i have won a competition .
    thing is someone might fall for it so please everyone
    BEWARE

    I've just received a call from the same people.
    The number they ask you to ring is 0800 652 6566
    They got my details from Mutualpoints.com.
    I played along and the guy was sounding more and more excited as the conversation continued (Probably thinking of the commission he's going to get.....NOT! lol.
    I got told if I ring in the next 30 minutes I would also receive £75 of theatre tickets.
    I Googled the number and it came up with this:
    http://www.zdnet.co.uk/forums/0,39032000,39171014-20048741o,00.htm
    It's basically a timeshare scam.
    So if you receive a call asking you to ring the above number it's definitely a scam.

    I do always listen to any calls stating I've won a holiday though because I did once win a holiday for 2 to Las Vegas from a comp I entered on AOL
  • alanrp123
    alanrp123 Posts: 409 Forumite
    I receive 3 or 4 letters a day, telling me I have won 20,000 or more, all I have to do is send a judging fee or processing fee.
    I always send them back, and write on the forms deduct all fees from amount due and send cheque.
    I then post them without a stamp, so they have to pay at the other end.
    Whether this helps or not I do not know.
  • sylwright
    sylwright Posts: 340
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    I've just received a phonecall saying Congratulations, telling me that I've won a luxury holiday for 4 people to Spain or Tenerife. All I have to do is phone the number they gave me (0871 2228028) and give them the reference number I was given.

    As I do competitions regularly and have won several holidays, this made me suspicious, as it is normal to get a phone call (or an email or letter) informing you of the win, but I've never then been given another number to phone.

    I checked out the number on https://www.saynoto0870.com and found that there was an article linked to it about the company, high pressure timeshare sales. I phoned the landline number I got from sayno but they refused to answer any questions and insisted I phoned the 0871 number.

    I had already made my mind up that this was a definite scam but thought I would go along with it to see what they said. I phoned the 0871 number and was told again that I had won a luxury holiday for 4 people. She then said I would only have to pay a fee of £78 to cover airport taxes and such. I told her I have won many competitions and won holidays and have never been asked to pay any money out. She then said it wasn't a competition it was a promotion and they had to have this fee.

    At that point I told her I am not interested if it means paying any money out. She was very surprised by this, god knows why.

    Anyway, just a warning to everyone, the company is Global Vacation & Cruise Travel.
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you
  • TraceyB_2
    TraceyB_2 Posts: 678
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Have just had a call from Laura regarding a competition I had entered through get me a ticket. The competition was to win a holiday to the Caribbean - said that was strange as although I was entering comps, I was avoiding holidays as these wouldnt be convenient to take at the moment with a small baby!

    She said I had won a runners up prize of a week in Costa del Sol or Tenerife and gave me a claim code (is this starting to sound familiar?!!) and a number to call - 08006526566.

    Obviously jumped straight on here to see if I could find anything and lo and behold.....

    Must admit was slightly excited as it was an 0800 number but still thought it was unlike me to win anything!!

    Never mind - keep trying:mad:
  • redneck
    redneck Posts: 45 Forumite
    I am delighted to inform you that you have won a prize to the value of £2950, in last months My Offers/Seasons grand prize draw.

    \O/

    Then I took a look round their website. http://www.seasonsholidays.com/
    All looks very pretty,,,, eiii ? I have to Pay an annual maintenance fee of £322 for a One bed apart, for ONE week a YEAR - Plus a £20 booking fee. {plus flights etc}

    Off to google :
    http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=57346
    http://www.crimeshare.net/94.html [Is worth a looksie around this site, theyv'e got a Black list of companies & a winge section]

    Letter is off to the shredder, ah well.
  • perc
    perc Posts: 1,035
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    Got a call from these guys today :(
    "Those who try to make sense of the world are divided into four categories: scientists, theologians, philosophers, and fools. Correction ... make that one category with three sub-divisions" -- Carlo Kensada
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