Scam holiday win or could it have been real?
By RieRie
@RieRie (820)
October 13, 2009 5:43am CST
I just received a call, it was a foreign man, best guess I'd say Indian.
He asked for someone, not me, told him he had the wrong number, then he said the number and asked if it was correct which it was.
He then stammered a bit and said it was a Congratulations call and that I had won a holiday.
He never said who he was or what company, just that my phone number (that I have only given to my family and TPS (who should be stopping these calls.))(I use my mobile number for competitions)
had won a holiday for 4 to anywhere with free flights, so I said as I had broken my leg I didn't know if I could fly, so he changed it, so I had won a holiday in the UK, basically I'd won a holiday to anywhere, so I said that it takes me all my time to get to the next town and that it would probably be more hassle than it's worth trying to get somewhere for a holiday. He carried on trying to sell me the holiday and eventually he gave up, because I stuck to saying no.
After I hung up, I dialled 1471 and the last number that called was Unavailable.
Did I do the right thing or am I and 3 other people missing out on a nice free holiday with no catches now?
2 people like this
8 responses
@dorypanda (1601)
•
13 Oct 09
I don't think there are any genuine companies who will randomly ring you up and tell you that your phone number has won you something. I'm assuming they didn't tell you a company name. There's a company that's been ringing us telling us we've definitely won a FREE holiday, but when I looked into it, we'd have had to pay over £200 for the privilege.
Basically, if you've not entered a competition to win whatever it is that's being offered, then you've probably not won it and it probably is a scam, especially if they don't even know your name!
@coldmoon (1088)
• France
13 Oct 09
It's and also is not a scam. You'll have a holiday in UK, but you have to pay for air ticket to get to UK. I've had such an experience. Some agence called me to annonce the prize win which was a holiday in New York, but I had to pay for the flight from France to the US (they knew that my address was in France). Accidentally, at that time, I was on a business in New York, and I replied that I didn't need air ticket. But what happened then? They said :"Well, if you're now in New york, this prize is not for you. Instead, we'll offer you another prize, it's a holiday in Bahamas, you're paid for hotel, cruise, diving,...But you have to pay for the flight from New York to Bahamas". Oh ho.
1 person likes this
@RieRie (820)
•
14 Oct 09
Well I live in the UK so flying there is a bit pointless, they did say the flights were free, but I didn't really let him finish all of his script. After I hung up I thought I should have told him I wanted a holiday in my home town, just to see if he even knew where it was.
@prinzcy (32305)
• Malaysia
13 Oct 09
It's a pure scam, no need to think a lot. How can you won anything when you didn't participate in anything like that. Best of all, a holiday for a prize? It's tempting but luck don't roll in that easy. If he need to lie, he need to find a better story. It's already fishy from the start.
@taztheone (1721)
• India
14 Oct 09
We people love anything when it's free, but it's said that there is no free lunch in the world. If it was genuine, he would have given a proper company name & he would have hung up if the name was not matching, because the companies would prefer giving prizes only to genuine customers.
By what you said, there is no doubt that it was either a scam or was trying to well something in a better was but flopped because of inexperience. If the number was untraceable, then it will be a call center number & the most probable reason for calling will be sales.
Happy Lotting
@Gemstar6 (71)
• New Zealand
14 Oct 09
We had a run of theses calls and they were downright irritating. I resorted to being rude and told the caller I was fertile, we were trying for a baby and -Ohmigod honey that feels soooo good! - and that he was interupting an attempt (plus some more suggestive noises) He hung up.
A similar company was under watch from the commerce commission here because of what amounted to scams.
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't!
1 person likes this
@Ravenladyj (22902)
• United States
13 Oct 09
LOL no worries!! you most certainly did the right thing!! That was IMO without a doubt a total scam!!
@mouseattacks (58)
• United States
13 Oct 09
I think you did the right thing. If you truly had won something, this person would not have been trying to sell you anything.
