To whom it may concern, (please see a copy of an e-mail sent to Multi-choice - awaiting response)

Please note the attached scratch Card from Arcadia Home Shopping that was enclosed in the April Magazine from Multichoice. This scratch card competition promises monetary prizes that are considerable to say the least and suggests that all one has to do to become eligible for an initial cash prize of R100, 000.00 is to scratch off the gold panel. Naturally, I scratched away then as directed on the card SMS'd the word WIN to receive my unique claim number via return SMS. Once I was in receipt of this number I was to complete the form and send it (including my identity number and signature) via fax or mail to the details enclosed on the attached form.

That’s when the junk mail trail began. A few weeks later I received a Prize Notification telling me that I had won R15, 250-00 and that a cheque would be sent to me immediately upon receipt of my claim form. I became suspicious when I was also given the option to purchase a pen set for R129-90 as a so called 'Bonus Offer' (you start to wonder and I am sure this is intentional, that you will need to pay the amount requested to qualify for the cheque). I decided to ignore the mail. Not one week went by before I received another letter informing that I was in line to win more money, again I ignored the letter, the following week another letter stating that I was now in line to win over three million. It was here that I got quite excited as I started to think that it might be credible (and believe me these letters were coming at the time when you look for miracle’s), until I started to read the never-ending list of complaints from other “winners” of Arcadia Home Shopping competitions on the Internet. It seems that this is a scam and that all the company tries to do is separate people from their hard earned money without delivering on the promises.

Communication with Arcadia Home shopping’s Rene Herman's (whether fictitious or not) produces some of the following replies, “the notification states that she is eligible to win the prize which means that only if her number is the unique winning number will she be identified as a winner”, and “I am sure that if this was illegal we would have been notified by the Marketing board and they would have banned the mailing with immediate effect”. Whilst their responses indicate that Arcadia Home Shopping does not guarantee cash payouts, and that payment for “bonus prizes” it is not obligatory, the marketing is definitely misleading.I am also concerned with having disclosed my personal details and provided a sample of my signature. Have I now inadvertently made myself (more specifically my finances) vulnerable to fraud.

I am not certain who compiles and distributes your Dish/satellite magazine, but I would like to suggest that a more stringent vetting process is applied when deciding what content/ 3rd party advertising material to enclose. As a reputable company I am sure that you would not like your name to be linked however distant with any company that is likely to misrepresent themselves to your subscribers. To whom do we refer this potential scam? Have the Police not investigated the many complaints? Or perhaps this might be big enough for Carte Blanché to investigate...?

I await your response.