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ianmc38 · 13-10-2005 1:14pm #1

Does anyone know what the story is with these scams that are regularly sent to households around the country.

They generally say you've definitely won one of the following prizes:

€100000 Cash
A new Mercedes
A luxury roudn the world cruise
A 42" Plasma TV

Then they say ring this numebr to collect your prize. The numebr in question is genreally €2 or so a minute and calls last 8 minutes or something like that.

1. How can they get away with saying you've definitely won 1 of these huge prizes
2. has anyone actually ever rung one and if so what prize did you get?

HelterSkelter · 13-10-2005 1:19pm

They generally offer several big prizes like you listed and lots of really small prizes which cost less than the cost of the phone call. So they will make a profit on the majority of people who spend €8 on the call to win a 50c pen!!

ianmc38 · 13-10-2005 1:24pm

But i've seen ones where they say one of the following, and they have list of monster prizes with no sh** like pens etc.

blahblah06 · 13-10-2005 1:30pm

Yep got win yesterday and won a trip to paris. posted it off last night

ErinGoBrath · 13-10-2005 1:30pm

There's always a bogey prize under the big prize section that'll cost them next to nothing.

Usual culprits including: €300 Holiday Voucher, Weekend Breaks etc.

Not worth your while phoning up IMHO :cool:

whippet · 13-10-2005 1:33pm

the lowest prizes are 'holiday vouchers' to the value of €500 or thereabouts:

the holiday voucher will arrive, which is redeemable against a holiday from a specific brochure. All the holidays will be for the carribean (or other exotic long haul destination), which are way over priced. For instance charging €3500 for a holiday that you would probably get elsewhere for €2000. So using the voucher will cost you more money than you could save by buying the holiday elsewhere.

The net effect is that you have just spent about €30 on a phone call and got a useless piece of paper for a prize.

PJG · 13-10-2005 2:09pm

Yeah the holidays are dodgy, usually have to be on certain dates and lots of restrictions

seamus · 13-10-2005 7:45pm

Aye. Or they give weekend breaks away, where the voucher is only valid for one person, and doesn't include dinner :rolleyes:

deisedevil · 13-10-2005 7:48pm

Read the small print, some of them say something like: We reserve the right to end this competition at any time without notice.

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