Free Holidays or Prizes 

You may get an unsolicited phone call at home or a scratch card is thrust into your hand as you're enjoying a holiday abroad and you're told you've won a free holiday or a number of other prizes.

To get the 'free' holiday you are told you have won, you have to go to a short presentation about a holiday club that ends up being a long day of hard sell.  Here they can provide wrong information about what you will receive, leave you without food and even provide alcohol to let your guard down.

The problem is that if you sign the contracts just so you can leave you may well not have a right to cancel!  Not all contracts are covered with a cooling off period so if you don't want it, don't sign it!

Another common scam relating to prizes is official looking letters saying that you have won a nice amount of money.  All you need to do to start the claim is complete the form and make a small order from their catalogue.  You make the order and receive the goods but there is another order that needs to be placed.  This can continue for a while before you realise you have not won the money or prize.  The terms and conditions in very small print explain that this is a draw and that you may not win the top prize.  Sometimes you can win something that is low value, making the money you have spent out far more.