{"id":266,"date":"2011-05-12T10:23:36","date_gmt":"2011-05-12T10:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sweepsadvantage.com\/sweepstakes-contests-blog\/?p=266"},"modified":"2022-03-24T21:04:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T01:04:40","slug":"how-do-i-know-if-i-won-a-sweepstakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sweepsadvantage.com\/sweepstakes-contests-blog\/how-do-i-know-if-i-won-a-sweepstakes\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do I Know If I Won a Sweepstakes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This question comes up a lot when you enter sweepstakes.\u00a0 If you are a winner, the sponsor will contact you.\u00a0 Most sweepstakes are either run directly by the sponsor, or by a prizing agency.\u00a0 Sometimes they will email you ahead of time to let you know that you won.\u00a0 Other times they will telephone or send a letter in the mail.\u00a0 The best letters are the ones that contain affadavits.\u00a0 Affadavits, aka “affies” usually indicate that you won a more expensive prize.\u00a0 If you receive an affadavit, follow the instructions and return it as quickly as possible.\u00a0 You could lose out on a prize if you fail to return the paperwork.\u00a0 Prizes can also be surprises, showing up on your doorstep with no advance notice.<\/p>\n

What can be tricky are win notices that are not really wins.\u00a0 They are usually fairly easy to detect “Nigerian Prince Says You're a Big Winner!”, but the good ones are more subtle.\u00a0 If you aren't sure whether or not a win notice is real<\/a>, read it carefully.\u00a0 Who sent the notice?\u00a0 If it is from a contest you did not enter<\/a>, then you did not win.\u00a0 Is the notice addressed to you by name, or are you “lucky winner”?\u00a0 Is the URL from the sponsor or prizing agency, or is it an overseas yahoo account?\u00a0 All these signs should send up red flags.\u00a0 With any sweepstakes, never, never, never send money to claim a prize<\/a>.\u00a0 If you're a winner, you shouldn't be paying to release your prize.\u00a0 Also, never, never, never provided bank account information or social security numbers.\u00a0 If someone wants this information, they are probably a scammer.\u00a0 There are plenty of great, legitimate sweepstakes<\/a>, but be smart and avoid the occasional bad apples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This question comes up a lot when you enter sweepstakes.\u00a0 If you are a winner, the sponsor will contact you.\u00a0 Most sweepstakes are either run directly by the sponsor, or by a prizing agency.\u00a0 Sometimes they will email you ahead of time to let you know that you won.\u00a0 Other times they will telephone or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sweepstakes-stories","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Do I Know If I Won a Sweepstakes?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This question comes up a lot when you enter sweepstakes.\u00a0 If you are a winner, the sponsor will contact you.\u00a0 Most sweepstakes are either run directly by\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sweepsadvantage.com\/sweepstakes-contests-blog\/how-do-i-know-if-i-won-a-sweepstakes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Do I Know If I Won a Sweepstakes?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This question comes up a lot when you enter sweepstakes.\u00a0 If you are a winner, the sponsor will contact you.\u00a0 Most sweepstakes are either run directly by\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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