Scratch Cards

jp_bl_68

jp_bl_68

jp_bl_68

Soldato
Joined
3 Jan 2009
Posts
8,037
Did anyone get one of these in today's Times:

qSJON.png



I don't normally bother with scratch cards but I gave this one a go and it looks like I might've won something. The prizes range from £1m (only one person can win this) to a week at the Ouraview Beach Club in the Algarve (excluding travel, 5,000 people can win this). To claim I need to text/call a premium rate number which will cost £9 in total.

Obviously, this looks like a scam seeing as out of the three cards I played I've "won" twice. So, what's the catch? I've read the Ts&Cs on the card but I can't seem to spot it.
 
The catch is... the call costs you £9 and the prize is more than likely worth less than that, like a pen, or a keyring.
 
The fact you'll have to pay £18 (£9 for each call) to claim your new sparkly pencil that you'll have won??
 
99.9% of them will win the holiday, 1% of those 99.9% who paid £9 to find out they'd won the "holiday" will actually take it.
There is no scam as such, just make the prizes unattractive enough and people won't want what they've won.
 
I "won" one of these once - you could post it in and claim your prize which i tried (for a 2nd class stamp)

I won a holiday for one that constituted a 1 day bus trip, one night in a hotel and a day bus trip back (or something similar) it was mid week only and they offered an upgrade for an extra night or second person but at an insane amount.

Basically it was something no-one in their right mind would take, they make their money from the phone calls and in most cases don't ever have to pay out on the "prize"
 
On the flip side, my old boss won a 2 week 5 star holiday in Mauritius through something similar, however, it's not all good. He had a tiff with his wife before, she took the kids and left him behind and he moved out and left her!

So yea, don't trust them :suspect
 
Usually the "free" holiday without travel you find you have to book the flights through them for £500 each so basically what the holiday costs if you went to a travel agent and booked the same place, flights and accondodation together.

You pay £9 to find out this info.

Same with those phone calls you used to get for a free carribean cruise (flights and transfers excluded). Your total cost ended up been thousands.
 
in the 90s they used to get posted through your doors and you would win a baloon after a 10minute phone call listening to the prize u had won..

total scam
 
arknor said:
in the 90s they used to get posted through your doors and you would win a baloon after a 10minute phone call listening to the prize u had won..

total scam
Click to expand...

Yeah. I had something like that in a magazine in 1996 (so 15 years ago), so it's definitely not new. Back then, it was 4 'games' arranged in a column (bookmark-shape), and they made the 3rd game down the winning game. So when you ring the 0960xxxx number, they go through the games in order so that by the time you get to the winning (3rd) game, you've already run up a phone bill, then find that your prize is less in value than the call. Remember that phone calls were more expensive too in 1996.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom