Complaint Review: THE SWEEPSTAKES INFORMATION REPORTING SERVICES - LAS VEGAS Nevada

It truly makes my head hurt to know there are people out there gullible enough to lose money to these scam artists. PLEASE, if you are one of these people, READ THESE GUIDELINES! 1. Yes, you are right, these scams are illegal and these people should enter the justice system. But...they won't. Have you ever gone fishing? Did you catch every fish in the pond? Each state's Attorneys General have thousands of individual complaints on hundreds of "firms" such as these. Said AG's will never have enough time or resources to prosecute any but the biggest transgressors. These outfits depend on that. 2. NEVER send money for a prize. NEVER. Think about it - you're going to win half a million dollars but they want a $21.95 processing fee? Why not deduct it from the winnings? 3. NEVER think you "won" a contest you didn't even enter. There are low enough odds on winning contests you DO enter - the odds of winning a contest you never entered in the first place are zero. Nil. P(Winning|Not Entered)=0. 4. Avoid even entering LEGITIMATE contests! Yes, even the so-called "legit" contests are facades for getting your name on lists...lists that get sold to ANY outfit that wants to buy them. These are the well-known "sucker lists." Even the well-known "legit" contests are dubious (anyone remember Reader's Digest?) - the prizes offered to a very select few are in exchange for a wealth of information from many. YOU and everyone else are giving away your personal information. 5. Here is a hint for you. If you feel you MUST enter a "free" contest or two, OR if you order from catalogues (and don't use a credit-card), spell your name differently each time. Put in a different middle initial, use a salutation, anything. And then, look in your mailbox and see what you get with your "altered" name on it - this will give you a good idea who is selling and buying your personal information. This is an instance of common sense which is, apparently, uncommon. To the woman who lost in the hundreds to thousands of dollars to this? You are a very special woman - and I don't mean that in the kindest way. But...you are a victim, not the perpretrator.

As soon as I opened the envelope and saw the amount I knew something was fishy. To good to be true, you know! Wow I feel bad for those who have actually sent these fools money! The least these fools could have done was at least change the amounts of cash for each person, so that it doesn't seem that suspicious!! What idiots and I hope they get caught!!

I was also sent this scam letter. A few days ago I had entered The Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes via the internet. I did not participate in a sweepstakes from the "S.I.R.S.". This should be the fist clue. Why would you win a sweepstakes prize that you never even entered. Also, you should never have to pay anything to claim a prize you won, second clue. The third clue, is if I won over half a million dollars, than why is the highest cash prize only $1,000. They really got my attention at first, and I had to read the letter four times to be sure that it really was a SCAM!!!! People that try to cheat other people always get caught!!! Don't let them get you first. Sincerely,

My girlfriend got a letter today stating she won some money. We both read over the letter, it is full of double talk. After reading it several times, I am a bit confused, did they state that she did in fact win, just as they stated to the rest of you? If it states that you did win, dont they have to honor that? Doesnt this kind of fit the same standard as false advertisement? Has anyone researched the legality of making them pay for these so called prize letters? I am thinking of bringing the letter to a lawyer friend and asking them to look it over for us. I would really be interested in finding out if this company is falsly advertising "you have won" is breaking the law or not and if they will have to pay since they did state she did win and so did half the country. Just out of curiosity, we were trying to figure out how they got her name and address. Have any of you all gone on the internet and applied for credit cards, filed bankruptcy, etc... we thought maybe they were getting the names of people who are or seem to be low on the money scale. Not meaning to sound rude, I apologize if that came out wrong. We thought they might be scamming the people they felt would be vulnerable and believe they actually were going to get rich quick, when in reality the company is the one getting rich off of the poor people who work hard for that money they are asking us to send. I have never heard of paying for your cash prize, or a cash prize of over $500,000 being given by companies that wouldnt want the advertisement.

Like everyone else here, I was extremely excited when I opened my letter. Being a poor college student, the number one problem most of the time is money. Luckily before I sent off for my prize, my sister told me to look it up first. I am grateful that I did. I share my anger towards these people just like the rest of you, and if you are thinking about mailing it in, DON'T! Send me your $21.95 and I'll tell you that you didn't win.

Like everyone else here, I was extremely excited when I opened my letter. Being a poor college student, the number one problem most of the time is money. Luckily before I sent off for my prize, my sister told me to look it up first. I am grateful that I did. I share my anger towards these people just like the rest of you, and if you are thinking about mailing it in, DON'T! Send me your $21.95 and I'll tell you that you didn't win.

Like everyone else here, I was extremely excited when I opened my letter. Being a poor college student, the number one problem most of the time is money. Luckily before I sent off for my prize, my sister told me to look it up first. I am grateful that I did. I share my anger towards these people just like the rest of you, and if you are thinking about mailing it in, DON'T! Send me your $21.95 and I'll tell you that you didn't win.

Like everyone else here, I was extremely excited when I opened my letter. Being a poor college student, the number one problem most of the time is money. Luckily before I sent off for my prize, my sister told me to look it up first. I am grateful that I did. I share my anger towards these people just like the rest of you, and if you are thinking about mailing it in, DON'T! Send me your $21.95 and I'll tell you that you didn't win.

I too recieved a letter saying I won 523,Grand. I Checked first thing on google and found your sight. Thank you. If it is to good to be true, it probably is not true! NotSo Gullable

Got mine in the mail yesterday! Yeah... I thought long and hard about sending in a check for the amount requested. I mean, hey, who wouldn't want some cash to come their way? Anyway folks, I'm so glad I did a Google search of this company's name! It was here that it brought me to find out that this letter is all a SCAM!!!! Thanks for this site! But yeah... this sweepstakes is all a scam!!! BIG TIME!!!

I could not belive what I got in the mail today! Yes the same letter stating I had won $525,439.00! Ofcorce I was exsited! I called my mother-in-law to see what she thought. The frist words out of her mouth where "SCAM!" She told me to go to google.com and check it out. I'm soo glad I listen to her! I thank you google.com and everyone who wrote. I'm now convinced it's a scam and hope that by working together we can stop these conartist! Thanks for convinceing me.

The back of the letter states the obvious: We make no express or implied representations, warranties or agreements. Consumer (that's you if you're foolish enough to send them the 21.95) HAS NOT WON ANY OF THE LISTED PRIZE OR CASH AWARDS. Consumer MUST ENTER AND WIN each individual promotion to be eligible to collect the advertise awards.... It states later: Different graphic presentation sof this offer, INCLUDING AVAILABLE PRIZES and opportunities may be made. IT'S A RIP OFF FOLKS! Of course unless you want a report about all the available sweekstakes going on in the county!

I am one that has been ripped-off.I sent SIRS alot of money in the last two months,and i wouldn't never found out if i'd looked it up on my computer. I hope someone catches these hoodlums that have stolen about four or five hundred dollars from me.Someday these people will be caught and sent to prison, because it's not right.

If you read the back of the letter it states that the consumer has not won any of the listed prize or cash awards. Also, odds of winning the stated amount of $525,439 does not even appear anywhere on the letter (odds of winning $1000 is the greatest amount shown on the back). So, if the odds of winning $1000 is 1/1,000,000 and the odds of winning $250 is 1/100,000 then one would think that the number of individuals receiving this letter should correspond to numbers of, for example, around 1/5,000,000,000.

Also Received the same information. ANY COMPANY ASKING FOR $21.95 SO THAT YOU CAN RECEIVE $525,439 IS QUESTIONABLE THANKFULLY, I SEARCHED THIS SWEEPSTAKES ON THE INTERNET BEFORE I CHOSE TO SEND THIS MONEY TO S.I.R.S. THANK YOU

Think about it. What company would award over 1/2 a million bucks to a lucky consumer and not want to get credit for it? Who is the company giving the award? Not S.I.R.S. - they are acting as an agent. The company(s) giving out this huge amount of money and taking absolutely no credit for it are "independent prize sponsors". Who are they? Why the secrecy? If this were legitimate the company name would be all over the letter and envelope. (Think about publisher's clearing house award where they have baloons and the whole bit on national TV). Of course, not to mention - what legitimate contest asks you to send money to get your prize? None that I know of. Scammers - big time.

Thanks for the heads up. For those reading this who received this scam, go here:

(((Document to be posted in a day or 2)))

It's the scanned documents I received from S.I.R.S. If you have the same documents, or simular documents rip it up...

Take Care, thanks!

Scam.