Why I Renounced 69,000 Euro (~81,000 $)

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I must confess that I like taking part in competitions which I find in newspapers, magazines or leaflets I get in shops. I’ve even subscribed to a monthly paper listing lots of comps from all over the country. You may consider me a fool and laugh this off. Ha! I’ve already won quite a lot of things. For example: a trip to Turkey for two people and a two-week stay in a hotel in a seaside resort. Such prizes are usually offered in the so-called ‘dead season’, that means outside school holidays. The hotels are always full during school holidays, so they offer some tourists the flight and the stay to keep the staff occupied and also to advertise the place. As I was a teacher, I couldn’t go. Pity. But my cousin and her husband went for me and were fully satisfied. I could go on and brag with other things I’ve won but this is not the topic of the post. Today I want to tell you about telephone calls I get occasionally informing me about prizes I’ve won. Yesterday a woman called me to inform me that I had won 69,000 Euro (81,000 $). I found this a strange sum, why not the ‘round’ sum of 70,000 Euro? I didn’t recognise the name of the organisation or business which had organised the competition. But this can happen considering that I take part in several at the same time. What I didn’t like was the way she was talking. She spoke very fast and mentioned my surname after every other sentence. I know my name, thank you, you don’t create more trust by repeating it all the time. The woman may have been surprised that I didn’t let out a scream showing my joy about the prize. I just said, “Fine. You may transfer the money to my bank account”. She said that this was not the procedure. I’d get the money personally. Four men would bring it, one of whom would be a lawyer who’d watch that the transaction would be correct. I would have to transfer only 800 Euro (~900 $) and then they’d initiate the transfer. Aha! That was the snag. I had been waiting for it all the time. I thanked the woman for her effort but told her that I wasn’t interested. She couldn’t believe it and began the litany again. Yet to no avail. I let her talk for a while and then ended the call by replacing the receiver. I recounted all this to a young man who is computer savvy and also informed about tricks and he told me never to react to such offers. I’d lose 800 Euro but would certainly never see the promised 69,000 Euro.