Are you one of those "lucky" people across the nation who received an award letter from Publishers Award Center Inc. in Colorado saying you won one of the following: a 1993 Saturn SL1 Sedan, six-piece appliance package, vacation accommodations or $1,000 in cash?
All you need do to claim the prize is call a telephone number - in a hurry. Too good to be true? Maybe not. The goldenrod envelope the letter comes in looks very official.Think again. It's a scam.
The purpose of this sweepstakes and thousands of others like it is to separate you from your money quickly - before they're shut down.
"If there is anything you have to pay to collect the prize, it's bogus," said Jan Zavislan, chief of the consumer fraud division of the Colorado attorney general's office in Denver. "That's an immediate key to the consumer. You don't have to pay or buy anything to win prizes in legitimate contests."
And the Colorado Springs' district attorney is already investigating Publishers Award Center Inc., which is also known as Advent Corporation. "Most prize promotions want to sell you something. The biggest problem we have right now is the sweepstakes scam." Why? Because it's a good hook. "We all play the lottery because everybody likes the idea of their ship coming in," Zavislan said.
The award certificates guarantee you will win one of a number of prizes including a vacation package or jewelry. "That's the garbage. And that's what everybody gets. Nobody ever wins the big prize," Zavislan said. Who's victimized by these scams? Millions of people of all ages, but particularly senior citizens. Consumers lose anywhere from $10 billion to $40 billion to telemarketing fraud annually, Zavislan said.
Contests of this kind are lucrative businesses. An operation Zavislan shut down took in over $300,000 in nine months by collecting fees of $400 to $500 per call for nonexistent prizes.
Financially unsophisticated senior citizens tend to enter sweepstakes because of loneliness and fear their retirement money will run out, Zavislan said. They see Ed McMahon give a check to an American Family Publisher winner on television and think copycat contests look legitimate.
"They believe it. And when they're asked to pay taxes and shipping costs to get a prize, it makes business sense to them."
One man paid $12,000 in taxes for a $100,000 award that never existed. Later, the company asked for more.
Scam artists also prey on people with Alzheimer's disease or other infirmities.
"They're on the lookout for these people and when they find one, they call every couple of days until all the money is gone," Zavislan said.
"It's an unbelievably horrible thing happening, and it's happening to all our parents and grand-parents."
Keep in mind folks, nobody offers you something for nothing. They want something for nothing. Other scam tip-offs: an active checking account needed and a payment to remain in the contest.
(Please send any questions and comments to Laura Cianci, Business Editor, The Bradenton Herald, 102 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton, FL 34205.)