Sweepstakes Prize from Hong Kong, is this a scam?

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 21 Nov 2009 Posts: 3

I participated in a phone survey awhile back (with no mention of sweepstakes or reward) and last week i got a call to the same number asking me by name. They claim that the survey (which sounded too vague to be real anyway) automatically entered me into a sweepstakes and i've won $10,000 US dollars which they will wire to me.

They have no information from me except my real nickname and my real office direct line. All the answers i gave during the 'survey' where purposefully vague as i was on the alert already.

They've asked me for my Driver license number and Bank Account number so far. RE DL number, i gave them a made up number, and RE the Bank Account, i've told them I'm having problems with my personal account and will get it cleared up by Monday.

What do you guys think? I've googled their website, their address, and their phone numbers extensively with no results.

Their website seems genuine on the surface, but the information is really vague and a bit 'auto-generated' which leads me to think they have a lot of these setup at different URLs and names to show their 'marks'.

Phone number is inconclusive.

Address is a physical address in a Business sector in the area they claim to be in, but i can't confirm who works in that office.

The strange thing is, my office direct line is a private number, not given out or listed ANYWHERE except for certain family members and trusted associates, none of whom would give this number out per my specific instructions. Some of these people are overseas, and i suspect their phone records have been skimmed and that's where they got my number, but i can't confirm that either.

The people that call me speak almost exclusively in Mandarin (which is inconsistent with where they claim to be based out of). After extensive googling, i have not found the details of this operation to match either any known scams or real sweepstakes. I DO know they have this type of genuine sweepstakes in China, but never for this amount of money, and i do know they have a lot of scammers in China using a similar setup.

Any suggestions? Am i in the right place? or can someone refer me to a forum or other information source?

I am 99.99999% sure this is a scam, which is why i've been dragging this out as long as possible. Any suggestions? Anyone heard of this specific scam?

What can i say, in the back of my mind i keep on thinking, maybe i REALLY DID win some type of sweepstakes! LOL! Very Happy

As an addendum,

why i responded to the survey on my direct line, i have several lines and i didn't realize it was my direct line until i went to hang up...my other phone lines are widely publicized in business directories and associations, and they are always surveying me. Usually i just hang up, but the surveyor was very courteous, so i played along.

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 5:44 pm

Welcome Junkspam!

A lot of scammers do what is called 'piggybacking', which means they send (or in your case, cite) a link or reference to a legitimate website, for credibility. My instincts tell me it's a scam, and the first call was a setup for the second. You've handled it right. A Big Red Flag, is requesting your DL# and bank account number. No reason for them to have that info. A legitimate lottery would be able to mail a registered letter with a certified check...but they didn't mention that option.

And just so you know another scenario, (if you don't already), it could possibly turn into them actually telling you they'll send your winnings, and when you deposit the check, forward them some type of lawyer/lottery handling fee.
The check can take up to a month to clear, come back fake, and and your bank will make you responsible for the money. Mad

I'm curious to see the website. Will you post it here?

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

Please post the website address and the phone number they are calling from, if it turns out they are legitimate, then they have nothing to worry about by having their website address listed here, but if they are scammers, that address could lead to other fake sites that need to be killed as well.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 21 Nov 2009 Posts: 3

http://www.hkzch.com/

here's the site. As you can see the English version has a lot of autogenerated text. The Chinese version is pretty accurate, but still really vague. This is the company that is 'sponsoring' the contest. not the ones that have called me.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 21 Nov 2009 Posts: 3

So yeah, any suggestions? I want to keep this private line and number, too many people i'd have to update, should i just say i'm not interested, or play along?

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:57 am

If this is your actual private line, you should just walk away. Safe baiting requires that you set up an email (or phone, in this case) that is not connected to your real identity at all.

You have identified this correctly as a scam, but you should not bait it if the situation is as you have described.

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:31 am

Okay, domain hkzch.com was only recently registered on 27-jul-2009 and is earmarked to expire on 27-jul-2010. One year rego is a red flag for lottery scam but isn’t absolute evidence that the domain has been set up for scamming purposes. What we need is more info. As Scam Patroller indicated, a telephone number and any emails that you may have received from these guys may be more helpful. PM that info if it makes you more comfortable.

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 3:36 pm

im a one of actual victim of this chinese bullshit company .. and im a stock manager they call me once that im in a member of some company and i didn't belive it or didn't bother it like anyone else i hung up but funny thing is 2 weeks later they call me that i been selected for 3rd price winner and the price is & 150,000 US dollar and i was like BULLSHIT NOOOO WAY (honestly thats a big money and i could step a BIG step for my future life ) so at first i didn't belive it at all and i was kinda curious and ask them their numbers and site and they tell me this site www.hkzch.com and gives me the number account number:92109210 pass 9210 and put the number on the little window and IT shows my name with red color on the 3rd price winner name list so i was like OMGGGG i kinda belived it and so on so on i been scamed for $4,720 canadian i wish ANY of you who see this don't be like me and I HOPE there is someone WHO can actually BUST there company and PUT them into jail for LOOOOOOOONG time HOPELYY eternity
and YES all you guys were asking there numbers yes ? I FOUND OUT
most of call is BLOCKED call but i talked over a girl and GOT the name and number from there company
Sponsor company : 011 852 6525 2574
Actual Scam company: 011 852 3062 3326
and the fake bank number : 011 852 3053 3053 (you can actually hear how much is insde this account ) bank account #: 7864717 pass :1234

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