I received a registered letter from Malaysia last week, with a lovely brochure from an Ocean Tours company, and a couple of scratchie cards.  One card was a dud, but the other showed I had won a second prize, valued at US$166,000.00

Whoopee!, I thought, but after dancing around the living room, I checked into Scamwatch:

Scratchie cards are sometimes used in promotions, lotteries or competitions, beckoning users to ‘scratch and win an instant prize’, for example travel or holidays. While some scratchie cards may represent legitimate lotteries or competitions, you should be extremely suspicious of any scratchie card that requires a payment to claim a prize.

Scratchie scams will offer you an instant prize, but when you contact the trader to claim it, you will be asked to provide payment for various ‘fees’ via wire transfer or preloaded money card. The scammer may request bank details and photo identification. In some rare cases you may be asked to travel overseas to collect your winnings.

The scam package may include professional-looking brochures, often for accommodation, which are designed to trick you into thinking the competition is legitimate. It may include contact details for a business overseas and a web address for a fraudulent but professional-looking website.

The up-front payment requested can be as high as a few thousand dollars. If you pay, you will not receive the prize, and you will never see your money again. If you provide your personal details, they may be used for further fraudulent activity such as identity crime.

After forensic accountant Darren Park’s exposé today,  maybe I’ll just stay home.

More at Scamwatch:  https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/unexpected-money/scratchie-scams