Sweepstakes are real and they can really change your life in an instant. Everyday people all over the world win amazing prizes. From HGTV dream homes to fully sponsored vacations; $100,000 to even $1,000,000; there is just plenty to be desired from sweepstakes. They have brought great joy to many peoples lives, but sadly, they have also put a large number of people in a lot of misery.
There are very many people in the world who have fallen victim to sweepstake scams. Most of these people were manipulated to send money and some were unlucky enough to even have their identity stolen. Sweepstake scammers are smart and are good at convincing people they are legitimate winners, but this does not have to be you. Here are 4 ways to know if you are the legitimate sweepstake winner:
1. Sweepstakes use a legitimate company Email.
It is very rare that a sweepstake will notify you through free email accounts like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo. Although there are some legitimate smalltime sweepstake companies that can notify you through these free email accounts, most of them that do are scammers. A big and well-known company will never send you an email with a free email account. Do not trust them even when they tell you they are representatives of those big companies.
2. You are not to provide any personal details.
As you apply for a sweepstake contest, you provide some basic details about yourself, such as name, place of work, and where you live. Legitimate companies will never need your bank details prior to or even after the contest. The only thing they would need when you win is your social security number. You should stay away from any company that requires you to give them your bank details.
3. Confirm that you have won.
You can always confirm if you’ve won by contacting the company directly to verify the prize. This would mean finding other contacts of the company other than those they have provided in the win notification. Luckily, many company’s information is always available online. Make sure you find the legit website of the company and contact them through the information provided. If you can’t find any information on the company that sent you the winning notification then they are definitely frauds.
Some companies use sweepstakes management and promotion services to contact their winners. The National Sweepstakes Company, over 15 years experience in sweepstakes management, manages most of the contests in New York City. It is usually tasked with contacting the winners of these contents. You can always find the information of such sponsors online and use it to verify if you have really won.
4. You are not to pay anything for your prize.
You are never to pay anything to receive a sweepstake price. Everything in a sweepstake is free, you are not even to buy a product to enter the contest. But fraudulent companies will always tell you to wire some money for you to receive your prize. Most of them will tell you to send through western union so that you are not able to trace the recipient. Do not fall victim to this even when they tell its tax or some other type of facilitation fee.
Sweepstakes take time and effort to win. Do not let yourself be persuaded by scammers. Some of them are even naive enough to inform people that they’ve won contests that they didn’t even participate in. Can you really win a contest that you have not participated? Use the above four ways to know if you have legitimately won the sweepstake.
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