You are planning your next holiday but haven’t decided yet if you should go to Mexico, somewhere in the Caribbean, or to London.
Then, one day, your decision is made easier by an e-mail that informs you won a free stay at a hotel in Bahamas – usually a big chain you used in the past, so your name is still in their books.
You actually did win it, it is a free stay, but the scam is in the “redeeming” of the prize. In order to collect it, there's an 800 number you have to call. When you do, you're told that the agency handling the winners also has to book your air travel. The whole invoice will get closer to $2,000.
How to avoid: always ignore proposals along the lines: “we give you this, if you let us do this”. That’s not how a winner of a prize should be treated.