THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996                 TAG: 9607270184
SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   49 lines

AUTHORITIES CRACK DOWN ON FRAUDULENT SWEEPSTAKES "IF YOU HAVE TO PAY TO WIN A PRIZE, YOU'RE BOUND TO END UP WITH A PIECE OF JUNK. <

Consumers should beware of official-looking prize offers bearing the familiar ``You Have Won'' phrase while requesting some form of payment or bank account number to collect, authorities say.

``You don't have to pay to win,'' Eileen Harrington, associate director of consumer protection for the Federal Trade Commission, said Thursday at a news conference where she announced the results of ``Project Jackpot.''

The federal-state targeting of phony prize-promotion operations has resulted in 56 enforcement actions against 79 companies and individuals in 17 states, she said. A Canadian company is among the defendants.

The actions have ``brought to a halt millions and millions of dollars in ongoing fraud,'' Harrington said.

Most of the defendant companies are no longer operating. Judges have frozen their assets and put court-appointed receivers in charge, she said.

But Harrington warned that prize promotion scams have become one of America's fastest-growing forms of consumer fraud.

``If you have to pay to win a prize, you're bound to end up with a piece of junk,'' said Wisconsin Attorney General James Doyle, president-elect of the National Association of Attorneys General.

Consumers receiving these offers should be skeptical of requests to pay handling fees, release credit card or savings account numbers, wire money or send checks via express courier services, Doyle said.

The FTC also said Publishers Clearing House, one of the nation's largest sweepstakes companies, will include educational materials in its mailings to alert consumers that they don't have to ``pay to play.''

Eight companies involved in actions brought by the FTC are: American Exchange Group Inc. and Oasis Southwest, both of Las Vegas; Family Publishers Clearing Center of Woodland Hills, Calif.; Publishers Award Bureau of Orange, Calif.; Best Marketing Inc. of Lauderhill, Fla.; Multinet Marketing LLC of Huntsville, Texas; Incentive International 9013-0980 Quebec Inc. of Montreal; and Telecommunications Protection Agency Inc. of Muskogee, Okla.

U.S. Postal Service actions involved Award Claim Service of Las Vegas; Privilege Distributors and The Premium Group, both of Atlanta; T.T.I. of St. Louis; and Sweepstakes Advisor of Escondido, Calif.

KEYWORDS: FRAUD SWEEPSTAKES CONTESTS

by CNB