Issue Date:  -  Monday, 25 September 2000

Overseas Lotteries Not So Grand

Fair Trading Commissioner Patrick Walker today warned consumers to beware of overseas competitions offering cash prizes.

Mr Walker said the Ministry of Fair Trading had received numerous inquiries from consumers who had received unsolicited letters from Justin Grant Inc, a New York-based company.

The promotional literature for the company urges consumers to send in A$9.99 to a post office box in New York to receive their ‘Grand Prize’ of $12,000.

As with many of these overseas competitions, the literature misleads readers into believing that they have already won a ‘grand prize’. In this case the fine print conditions indicate an extremely remote chance of winning. " The sudden rise in inquiries suggests that WA is being targeted by the promoters," Mr Walker said. " Sending money overseas is a risk and consumers need to be especially wary about competitions they have not entered," he said. The Ministry of Fair Trading publishes the Little Black Book of Scams, a free booklet for the public outlining some of the common scams that are operating. Consumers wanting a copy of the book can:

request a copy by email from consumer@docep.wa.gov.au ; or
ring the Fair Trading Call Centre on 1300 30 40 54.