When my mom and I went to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus there were these people handing out cards when you walked in the door. I can’t remember if they affiliated with the circus, but they must have been if they were in the arena is my guess. They instructed us to fill out our name and number, and said they’d call if we won anything. Only my mom filled one out because the rest of us were under 21 (I’m 20 btw).
We got a call yesterday saying my mom had won an all expense paid trip for two to the Bahamas. They said we’d just have to pay the taxes. My mom didn’t believe them because she didn’t remember filling out the paper at the circus since that was about a month or so ago.
The lady that called left her name and number and told us to call back. She said we had a year to claim/take the trip.
No one knows whether to believe if this trip is real or not. What do you think?
Thanks in advance!
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My Mom Won A Trip For Two To The Bahamas, Is This Real Or A Scam?
Posted on December 22, 2012.
it’s illegal to ask you to pay taxes — that’s a scam. You do not pay them taxes — you pay taxes on winnings on your next tax return
Read the FTC websitehttp://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer…
“A Dozen Ways to Protect Yourself
The next time you get a “personal” letter or telephone call telling you “it’s your lucky day,” the Federal Trade Commission encourages you to remember that:
1. Legitimate sweepstakes don’t require you to pay or buy something to enter or improve your chances of winning, or to pay “taxes” or “shipping and handling charges” to get your prize. If you have to pay to receive your “prize,” it’s not a prize at all.”
Report this to the FTC
It will be on a crappy ship called the Celebration – it operates out of West Palm Bech.
It will be going to Freeport.
SCAM – high pressure sales cruise. You’ll be on a crappy, noisy ship ,evry Tom Dick and Harry will be selling you crap you have no intrest in.
You’ll be out about $1,000 once all is said and done.
Throw it away, block the phone # and mark all emails as “spam”.
I would unsubscribe from the emails as well………Your moms email is now being shared with more of these “scams”.
More likely than not, it’s a “hard sell” pitch for Bahamas vacation timeshare properties. If you go, you will be required to sit through presentations and intense pressure to sign contracts.
Always remember: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
It’s a scam. If it were a true prize, she would not have to pay anything.
The danger of the scam is they would get her financial info if she “paid the taxes”, then they could abuse it.