If you unexpectedly receive colourful travel brochures in the mail, be very suspicious if the package also contains scratchie card tickets.

SCAMwatch continues to receive reports of scam scratchie cards being sent to consumers across Australia. At the beginning of 2010, SCAMwatch warned consumers about the Euphoria Travelling Group and its mail scratchies where you always 'won' – for a fee. Unfortunately, this sort of scam is still doing the rounds with Aviats Travelling Group and EverMas Tourism Group among the next wave of unscrupulous traders.

Every ticket claims to offer a prize, but when you contact the trader to claim it, you are asked to provide payment for various fees via wire transfer. The upfront payment can go into the thousands of dollars and, if you pay, you will never see your money again.

Don’t be fooled by the scammer's spin, professional-looking travel brochures and websites – scammers succeed because it’s their job to trick you.

If you receive scratchies in the mail and ‘win’, make sure you don’t lose out – keep the evidence and report it to SCAMwatch.

Protect yourself

  • Be suspicious of any unexpected prizes received via unsolicited letters, emails or telemarketing.
  • Ask yourself why you have to pay upfront money for a prize when the sum could be deducted from your winnings?
  • NEVER send money or give personal details to people you don’t know and trust.
  • Always get independent advice if you are unsure whether an offer or request is genuine.

Report

You can report scams to the ACCC via the report a scam page on SCAMwatch.

Examples

Aviats Travelling Group brochure

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Aviats scratchie card tickets

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Aviats brochure cover

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EverMas Tourism Group brochure

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EverMas scratchie card tickets

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EverMas brochure cover

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More information

Explore SCAMwatch to find out more about how to protect yourself against scams including lottery and sweepstake scams, and unexpected ‘prizes’.

SCAMwatch has also issued the following radars on scratchie scams in the past:

Read more

Scratchie scams take the form of fake scratchie cards that promise some sort of prize, on the condition that the ‘winner’ pays a collection fee.