Prize Winners Club

Flyboy152

Write to them, asking them for a list of previous winners.

Robert89

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I will certainly not be wasting a penny phoning or texting them, but i had a similar thing to this last year and found on the internet it was a scam, but couldn't find anything on this particular party. But it does sound to good to be true, so i'll just bin it.

squeaky

I got one of those type things a long while back. TV, Holiday, Fitted kitchen, Emerald... yes a genuine emerald...

There's usually a little bit at the bottom saying you can apply by post instead of paying a tenner to get your code. So just for the fun of it I posted...

I *won*!!

I won an emerald. Took it to the nearest jewellers to get it checked out. It was indeed a genuine emerald but...

..emeralds come in all sorts of standards and mine was worth approximately one penny.

<sigh>

But at least it only cost me a stamp to find out

George_Michael

Even though it only cost you a stamp to find out that you had a totally worthless prize, I wouldn't advise anyone else to do the same.

As already mentioned by a couple of posters, all this does it to prove to the scammers/mailshot senders is that they have a valid address for someone who may respond to these letters in the future, and you may well find that your details have been sold on to many other companies

It's no different to the many spam e-mails that people get.
These are sent out by an automated e-mail address generator and a large % of them probably go to non existent e-mail accounts. However, if you reply to one to ask to be removed from their mailing list, all you have done is to confirm that they have a good address to keep spamming to.

Flyboy152

George_Michael wrote: »

Even though it only cost you a stamp to find out that you had a totally worthless prize, I wouldn't advise anyone else to do the same.

As already mentioned by a couple of posters, all this does it to prove to the scammers/mailshot senders is that they have a valid address for someone who may respond to these letters in the future, and you may well find that your details have been sold on to many other companies

It's no different to the many spam e-mails that people get.
These are sent out by an automated e-mail address generator and a large % of them probably go to non existent e-mail accounts. However, if you reply to one to ask to be removed from their mailing list, all you have done is to confirm that they have a good address to keep spamming to.

I have never understood this. Why would they keep sending stuff to people who clearly do not have any interest in responding? Surely, it is a waste of their money to send stuff to people who won't be conned.

squeaky

George_Michael wrote: »

Even though it only cost you a stamp to find out that you had a totally worthless prize, I wouldn't advise anyone else to do the same.

As already mentioned by a couple of posters, all this does it to prove to the scammers/mailshot senders is that they have a valid address for someone who may respond to these letters in the future, and you may well find that your details have been sold on to many other companies

It's no different to the many spam e-mails that people get.
These are sent out by an automated e-mail address generator and a large % of them probably go to non existent e-mail accounts. However, if you reply to one to ask to be removed from their mailing list, all you have done is to confirm that they have a good address to keep spamming to.

TBH I wouldn't advise it either. I did start getting lots more of these in the post but either binned them or, for the odd one or two - applied by post. I "think" it was three more by post. After that they stopped sending. I guess I was put on some sort of black-list for not spending ten quid per time on a phone call.

George_Michael

I have never understood this. Why would they keep sending stuff to people who clearly do not have any interest in responding? Surely, it is a waste of their money to send stuff to people who won't be conned.

I suppose it's a bit like the "419" e-mails. ("if you advance me £20,000 then I will give you 50% of the gold bullion I have in a bank").

They probably send out tens of thousands of these, and if only 1 person falls for it then they have made their money.
The letters like we are discussing here are probably the same.
Send out thousands of mailshots in the hope that the people that fall for it pay enough to cover the costs and make then a profit.

carolazz

Carolazz

I have been recieving these prize winner club letters for the last couple of years, last year (like a plonker) I made the call and ran up the phone bill with the charges, got the unique code etc., filled in the form and sent it back, only to have the form returned to me, I re-sent the form and like a boomerang it came back again.

I would'nt waste your time or money on this mail shot, the calls are expensive, as are the text messages, and so far after 2 years of getting these letters nothing has been gained from them other than the charges.

Sorry Robert, wish I could say you had been given some good news, as it is you've been handed a lemon.

Robert89 wrote: »

I recieved a letter today from 'Prize Winners Club' which says i've won a cash prize. Here's what it exactly says:

It gives you 3 options to contact them to claim, either by phone which from a BT line costs £1.53 a minute and says the call will last 6 mins max. By text "Max text cost £9.30, 6 x texts at £1.50 plus network charge. Or write by post and allow 28 days for delivery of claim code.

Has anyone else had one of these and are they legit and not a scam? The postage method seems ok as it's only a stamp your paying for.

sadgit

Got one today but just before sticking it in the bin it i thought i'd give it a read.
They are very sneaky with the wording by saying "All these prizes are available to claim:" then listing the amounts from £20,000 down to £25. This leads you to believe you've won a minimum of £25 but of course they haven't listed one of the other prizes available i.e. the camera.
Incidentally I went over to mcintyreanddodd.com and filled out the MPS form in the hope I will be removed from their database. They already have my name and address so I figure i'll be no worse off if they ignore it.
Anyway it's in the bin now

Jeff_Briggs

I would urge anyone who receives a letter from this crowd (and others like them), to do as I do. Put it straight into an envelope addressed back to them. Do not attach a stamp and mark the envelope 'postage to be paid by addressee'. If enough people do this the message will eventually get through and it will begin to hurt financially.