NationStates Jolt Archive

I got one of those beautifully worrying pink "Important Delivery!" letters in the mail today. It had "OFFICIAL NOTICE" printed at the top in very official lettering, and the Rolling Stone emblem along the side. The return address was hand-written, though, leaving me perplexed and suspicious.

Inside, it reads....
Dear (my name)
We are trying to reach you regarding your $2,100,000.00
Sweepstakes ID# (omit)
Please call us at the above number. This is a free call.

Sincerely - Pat Haines, Sales Representative
Now, many things in this life escape my notice, but I'm damn sure that 2 million dollars wouldn't fall into that category. What made me the most uncomfortable is the wording.....not that they're trying to reach me regarding my chances in this sweepstakes, no no no. Apparently I already won $2mil in a sweepstakes I didn't enter.

My first thought was that it was a collection agency, but then I remembered I paid off the last of my paltry $60 debt (after thinking they would sue me for it). So I Googled "National Magazine Exchange + Strike it rich V", the company who contacted me and the name of the sweepstakes. This (http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff179243.htm) is what the top result was, interestingly enough.
Company
N.M.E. National Magazine Exchange
Address:
16120 U.S. 19 North
Clearwater Florida
U.S.A.
Phone Number:
888-22709999

They send you a pink notice which tells you about a fake a** 2,100,000.00 sweepstake. I asked the representative when I called when the drawing will be and he said next year!!

I have been talked into suscribing to them and they just keep coming back with these notices. They got me to join the magazine subscription but I never paid them, Many have been scammed the same way. Returned every magazine I received, not interested. Never received free watch or whatever gift they offer you. Just a complete waste of time!

The pink notice reads..."Dear (Customer Name) We are trying to reach you regarding your $2,100,000.00 sweepstakes ID# Please call us at the above number. The is a free call. Sincerely - Pat Haines, Sales Representative" the sweepstakes is called "Strike It Rich V" sweepstakes. Don't be fooled!

Rauni
Bronx, New York
U.S.A.
Huh. Anybody else in America gotten these? It seems, from the scale reported by Rip-Off Report, that it's been a large-scale sort of con.

I'm still a little upset I didn't actually win the $2mil....I had big plans for that money.

I've always wanted to run some kind of scam through the mail. It just seems so easy. You invest a few bucks in postage and printing and the money just pours in. Especially if you target the elderly and the very young and inexperienced.

I get those a lot, I don't even open them.

I also get a lot of "checks" from car dealerships, they look like a check then when you read it, it says you have been "pre-approved to apply for a loan", I tear off the thing that looks like a check and let my girls play "bank" with it, then throw the rest away.


I have had a lot of my tax clients get something that looks like a W-2 envelope and says "IMPORTANT TAX DOCUMENT ENCLOSED", but when you open it up, it's for a local car lot and they are doing a sale where you can use your tax refund as a down payment. They are using actual W-2 envelopes though, and from the outside it looked 'real' to me, and I shuffle through like 90 W-2's a day this time of year.

I get about four recorded phone-calls a day telling me I've won a cruise. I'm just lucky like that.

I got a call yesterday about me winning a sweepstakes based on my Visa purchases, when I explained that I don't have a Visa, then they said Mastercard, then I said I don't have any credit cards, and they tried to get me to apply for one :rolleyes:

I also get calls from the Cingular wireless "fraud protection department"....and I don't have a cell phone at all.

These things have been going on for years. They're our way of keeping the populace brainwashed with anticipation. Damn internet for foiling our plans... er, I mean... :p

Seriously though...stuff like this happens. A lot. I clean my e-mail inbox out of things like this everyday and sometimes receive c-mail advertisements and such as well. It's part of the reason why I'm against giving large corporations too much power (and why I'm an anarcho-socialist instead of a true anarchist). They're annoying as hell and there's nothing at all we can do about them except just ignore them, call the companies to complain and get put on hold for hours, or start a campaign to end the scams and end up vanishing from our homes in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again.

I keep getting calls from my mother claiming she is sick and needs money for her prescriptions. What a scam!

Its the modern day darwinist way of killing off the stupid

It's a huge industry for the ones scamming, and all it takes is a letter or email to get someone's cash. Rediculous really.

I've always wanted to run some kind of scam through the mail. It just seems so easy. You invest a few bucks in postage and printing and the money just pours in. Especially if you target the elderly and the very young and inexperienced.

Seems easy is the key wording, and it's not just a few bucks. If they are lucky they get a response rate of 1 in 10,000. All those sorts of promotions are designed to do is generate lists of potiential targets. Sure they try and sell something but the money is made in selling the list. Compiling a good targeted list is an expensive proposition, especially if you do not have an in house printing operation. Say you have all that, then you have to deal with state and federal prosecutors that just love to build their carreers on prosecuting these scam artists, and if that isn't enough, they are justifiably hunted by the press and every consumer watch dog outfit around.
They change their names as often as you change your underwear because they are being hounded by creditors, cops, and competition and usually don't find out they have themselves been scammed by the crook that sold them the money making idea for 3 to 5 years, well after the damage has been done and they are living on the run.

Work you ever loving ass off for a few years and become an active investor. It's the only way to live.

Scamming is almost a professional business. Business has no morals. And the innocent? I beg to differ....naive, perhaps, but innocent....absolutely not.

I do not commend nor disagree with what scammers do....it is what it is. But I do think that if you are naive enough to believe you win an outrageous amount of money for no apparent reason or if you've been hand selected for a free car, then I think the scammers should get their money's worth. Afterall, how naive can one be?

This is America, the land of Capitalism, if you think that businesses are willingly going to give you a dollar without a catch then give me the drugs you are on or invite me into the bubble world you live.

Sorry guys, it's just, let's be practical....this is America and Capitalist societies we are talking about.