Valley woman discovers sweepstakes call is a scam
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They call saying you're on a list of winners picked from magazine subscribers and you're due big bucks. But one Valley woman figured out this was a scam and wants to warn others.
The calls came repeatedly. It was a man's voice claiming to be from Reader's Digest. He said the woman is due $50,000.
But she smelled a scam from the beginning.
"They would bring roses. He says do you drink champagne? I says no I don't drink," she says.
We'll call the woman Mary so she's not identifiable to future scammers. Like many profitable scams, this one came with a hint of truth. Mary used to subscribe to Reader's Digest, making this award more plausible.
And another thing. The guy on the phone only wanted $45. The man called back repeatedly wanting her to wire the money. She kept resisting.
"I say I believe it when I have it in my hand. He says well then you owe me a hug and a kiss and an apology," Mary recalls.
We asked her to try and call the man back. There was no answer. That's because of what she later discovered. As Mary went back through her calls received, it shows the calls came from a payphone.
She knows Reader's Digest wouldn't call her from a pay phone
Needless to say, the caller did not get Mary's $45. That low amount of money may mean more people bite on this one. It's likely the reason the scammers demanded so little.
But as Mary says, you don't get something for nothing and that's a lot of money to her.
If you get a similar call, try dialing *69. With many phones, this will show you who called.
If Mary had called Reader's Digest first, they would have told her this is not the way they do business.
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Copyright 2008 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
