Yesterday, the Office of the Attorney General released a statement warning consumers to beware of a sweepstakes scam impersonating of all entities, the Federal Trade Commission.  You can view what the sweepstakes letter looks like here.  The "winner" is told that they need to pay an insurance policy on their winnings to the tune of $4,500 and that it is refundable once their actual second place check of $450,000 arrives.  The letter further tries to put the consumer's mind at ease by telling them that someone from the FTC will be their case manager and assist them in gathering their winnings.

The only problem is that the FTC doesn't collect money from consumers and it isn't involved in any sweepstakes of any kind.  We tell consumers all the time on our public telephone lines that they never have to pay money to be in a true sweepstakes contest.  It is actually against the law for a company to charge a consumer to be entered into a sweepstakes so that's the biggest red flag to look for with these things.  If you've been contacted with this scam, the Attorney General is recommending you call their office at (800) 252-8011 and of course file a complaint at bbb.org as well.