I don't know if any of you have been victims of this thing called legalised scamming. What do I mean? Well, I'm sure you've all heard of Reader's Digest Magazine? Yes, that's the one with the small booklet with interesting materials to read that you can cram into your bag or pocket and read on the bus or train. Little did we all know that behind this set of interesting books, there was a scam going around. It is not exclusive to Reader's Digest, but they are the most well-known.They first approach you through snail mail, telling you that you were 1 of the many, many people selected in their sweepstakes, luring you with hopes and promises, that you will win a large sum of money, say $125,000. Then at the same time, they say that you're very important to them, they send you a fake car key to say that it will open the car of your dreams, IF you win. Then they bombard you week after week with ridiculous mail, with legitimate signatures of authenticity, appealing to your vanity, and undermining your intelligence by asking you to paste this here, stick this sticker there. Then send your mail back within 7 days, to receive... yet another one of these ridiculous mails telling you to stick this here and paste this there. The cycle is repeated a few times, each time, they assure you that you're getting closer to getting exclusively picked for the final contestant to winning the sweepstakes, with literally no end in sight.
It seemed harmless at first, until more interesting things are thrown into the mix. Once they're sure you're hooked, they start asking you to subscribe to their magazine. Well, I haven't done so, so I decided to give it a go. I do love reading and Reader's Digest, despite their ability to scam you with their sweepstakes, do print the latest interesting news and information. Soon, they decide that, whoa, this customer is hooked, we're going to reel him in. They start sending you more mail, imprinting it as very important, you're important etc etc etc, blah, blah, blah. A lot of gibberish, mixed with some little footnotes that you might accidentally miss out and fail to read. For those who are not exactly educated, it's even worse, they will miss it out completely.
The "promise" of sending you gifts start, wow you say, that looks nice, send it to me. AHA, the mistake starts there. Little do you know (if you don't read all those words carefully) that these "gifts" are actually carrots, dangling there, for you to grab. In a few weeks you receive the stick behind the carrot, the bill, asking you to pay up for the carrots, which cost quite a lot.
Once they started with the subscription, I was very hesitant with the sweepstakes, but once they started with the "gifts", I stopped playing with them completely. I cut the hook and swam away, or so the proverbial hook, line and sinker story goes.
Although this entire exercise of getting you to subscribe to their magazine is legal, it is still a professional scam with their sweepstakes. All the photos of the winners could be their own employees who were asked to take photos with whatever winning cheque or car, is a scam. Always remember that a photo is a snapshot of the moment, what happened leading up to that moment or what happens after that photo is taken, we don't know. So don't assume that they won the sweepstakes unless you're there to witness it for yourself.
Call me skeptical, but sometimes, taking added precautions is a necessity. In this developing country, there are bound to be professional scammers around, wanting to take away your money, always promising you with reaping rewards, but you end up with nothing in the end. And if you try to sue them, they will say that they gave you a choice and you decided to enter the contest, everything was written and spelt out, you just didn't read it carefully enough. So, they are protected against anything you try to get them with, but you yourself are NOT protected.
Nowadays, there are phonecalls with Chinese Nationals calling you up and telling you that you've won something, and to come down to get your prize. How they get your mobile number is completely beyond me. Someone is selling our numbers to them, those contests that we enter. To make it more legit, they throw in an authorisation code. Little do you know that if you go down, they will ask you to sit for hours to listen to something they're trying to sell, or to part with some of your money.
I kept all their letters safely, to remind myself that I will not be duped a 2nd time into this legalised scamming. Now, hopefully, people who read this blog will wise-up and learn from my mistakes. When you see something that says Reader Digest Sweepstakes, if it does not say you're the winner, take the mail, tear it into millions of pieces and throw it out together with the garbage it belongs to.
If Reader Digest reads this blog, shame on you for trying to scam us into your sweepstakes. I had held you in the highest esteem since reading your magazine that held lots of varieties and interesting stories. But now, I find that you're just like any other con-artist, trying to cheat us all of our money. As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!
