Scam Watch · Hanna’s guide to not getting ripped off
By Hanna Deen (The Price Mistake Queen)
I hunt bargains for a living, so believe me when I say I understand the little jump your heart does at the word WINNER. I feel it too, every time, even when I know better. Scammers know that jump intimately. The prize scam is built on it, and it’s been running, in one costume or another, since before I had my first coupon binder.
The good news: this entire category of scam collapses under two questions. Let’s get you asking them.
Question 1: Did I enter?
Here’s a law of the universe as reliable as gravity: you cannot win a contest you never entered.
Lotteries do not draw names out of the phone book. Publishers Clearing House does not award prizes to people who never sent anything in, and they’ve said publicly for years that they never call winners in advance or ask for money to claim a prize. There is no “international sweepstakes” that selected your email “at random from all active accounts.” Foreign lotteries can’t sell you tickets by mail or phone in the U.S. at all; that’s illegal on its face.
So when the call, letter, email, or Facebook message announces you’ve won a lottery in Jamaica, Spain, or “the Mega Millions International Division,” the first question does all the work. Did you enter the Jamaican lottery? No? Then you didn’t win the Jamaican lottery. The conversation is over before it starts.
And if you enter lots of sweepstakes for fun, keep it simple: keep a little list of what you’ve actually entered. If a “win” isn’t on your list, it isn’t a win.
Question 2: Do I have to pay to collect?
This one’s the killer, because it filets the scam even when the “prize” sounds plausible.
Real prizes are free. That’s what makes them prizes. If you have to pay anything to receive your winnings, you’re not receiving winnings, you’re buying a story.
The scammers dress the payment up in official-sounding costumes:
- “Just cover the taxes first.” (Real prize taxes are handled with the IRS at tax time, or withheld from the winnings themselves. No legitimate lottery collects taxes from you in advance by phone.)
- “There’s a processing fee / delivery insurance / customs charge for the prize van.”
- “You must first send a refundable deposit to verify your identity.”
- Or the sinister version: “We just need your bank account number to deposit your winnings.” That’s not a deposit slip, that’s a withdrawal slip.
And how do they want these “fees” paid? Wire transfer, gift cards, sometimes a check they send YOU to deposit and partially wire back (that check bounces days later, after your real money is gone). You know my oldest rule by now: the moment gift cards enter a conversation, the conversation is a scam. It applies here with bells on.
The cruelest part is the pacing. They start small: $200 to release a $2.5 million prize sounds almost reasonable. Then there’s one more fee. Then a snag with customs. Each payment makes the next one feel necessary, because stopping means admitting the earlier money is gone. That trap has a name, sunk cost, and prize scammers are its finest engineers. Some keep a “winner” paying for months.
The other red flags on the envelope
The two questions are enough, but for completeness, here’s what the fakes tend to have in common:
- Urgency and secrecy. “Claim within 24 hours” and “don’t tell anyone until the paperwork clears, or you could forfeit.” Real sweepstakes don’t punish you for telling your family. Scammers insist on secrecy for one reason: the people who love you would recognize the scam in one sentence.
- A “government stamp of approval.” They love claiming the prize is “verified by the FTC” or “IRS-approved.” Government agencies do not sponsor, verify, or referee sweepstakes. Ever.
- Odd delivery. Winning notices via bulk-mail letters stuffed with a “claim check,” random texts, or a Facebook message from a friend’s hacked account raving about grant money or prize programs. (That last one is its own mini-scam: if a friend messages you about free prize money, call the actual friend. Their account is likely stolen.)
- They found you; you didn’t find them. Real wins begin with something you did. Scam wins begin out of nowhere.
Do this right now
- Memorize the two questions: “Did I enter?” and “Do I have to pay?” Wrong answer to either one, and you can hang up or toss the letter without a second thought. You’re not risking a real fortune; real fortunes don’t work this way.
- Never pay a fee, tax, or deposit to collect a prize, and never give bank details to receive one. There is no exception to this. None.
- If a “win” is dangling in front of you or someone you love right now, stop all contact, don’t deposit any check they sent, and report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov. If money already went out, call your bank’s fraud line today; hours matter.
The rule to remember
You can’t win a lottery you didn’t enter, and you never pay to receive a prize. Anyone who says otherwise isn’t handing you a check, they’re reaching for yours.
And listen, I’m not against a little sweepstakes fun. Enter the legitimate ones, dream about the confetti, enjoy the jump in your chest. Just remember that in the real version, the only thing a winner ever provides is a happy scream.
Share this with someone: Prize letters and “winner” calls go out by the truckload. Send this to the biggest optimist you know and love. Optimists are exactly who these people hunt.
Hanna Deen is The Price Mistake Queen. In twenty years of finding unbelievable prices, she’s learned the difference between too good to miss and too good to be true, and it’s usually a “fee.”
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