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Alert!

Winning a "Free" Prize Could Cost You More Than You Could Ever Imagine

Beware:

Recently, you may have received a post-card type announcement in the mail notifying you that you have been awarded a free prize. These so called "free" prizes range from things as big as a vacation package or vehicle, to a large sum cash.

The instructions on the post-card ask you to place a 1-900 telephone call in order to receive the "free" prize. In some instances, the phone call costs as much as $4.00 per minute. Some consumers reported that they were put on hold for a very long period of time.

In some cases, consumers who responded to such post-cards did not receive the prize even after having spent a large sum of money making the telephone call. In other instances, consumers have received a prize but it has turned out to be of less value or not at all what they were led to believe they were getting.

Be Wise:

You can avoid falling victim to this type of scam by exercising caution:

You should never have to pay any amount of money to receive a prize that is supposed to be free. Similarly, you should not be required to buy something in order to get a free prize. If at any time your are being solicited to pay for a "free" prize CAC Manitoba strongly advises you not to go through with the transaction.

If the prize really is free you should never have to pay long-distance charges, give out your credit card number, or send cash, cheques, or money orders by mail.

You should also refuse to sign any documents or contracts for a "free" prize before you receive it.

You may consider trying to get your name and address off circulating mailing lists. In order to do this you must write to the Canadian Marketing Association (phone 1-416-391-2362) and tell them that you would like your name taken off their list. This will only prevent their member organizations from sending unsolicited mail.

For more information on telephone scams and/or fraudulent activity please contact the following organizations:

Project Phonebusters (telephone scams only): 1-888-495-8501
Industry Canada Competition Bureau: 1-800-348-5358
Winnipeg Police Department: 986-6222
Consumers' Association of Canada (Manitoba): 452-2572 or toll free 1-888-596-0900

*CAC Manitoba compiles information about scams from various sources, agencies, and publications that come to our InfoCentre. The issue of ScamWatch was written with the help of information published by Project Phonebusters, Winnipeg Police Fraud Unit, and Manitoba Consumers' Bureau.