Just got a flyer from an outfit in Brooklyn that invites us to a vast
sale of UNCLAIMED VEHICLES!!!! Came complete with a check of $28,500
up front credit!!!! And, that's not all, when we scrtached off the
scratch off patch the numbers matched!!!! WE HAVE WON!!! Maybe a brand
new Mazda!!! Maybe $22,000 in cash!!! Maybe $500 in cash!!! Maybe a
three day two night vacation!!!

Hmmmmm. Let's see what the fine print says here. There is an awful lot
of it. The $28,500 check? "This offer is not guaranteed if you do not
meet our criteria, including providing acceptable collateral." There's
a whole lot more on the back of the check that becomes a contract if
you endorse it. None of it has anythinbg to do with immediate no-
strings credit.

Well, let's see what the flyer says. Takes some searching to find it
among the garish colors and weird type faces, but there it is, buried
deep like those voice-overs for poisonous over-priced drugs being
hawked on TV these days. "Odds of winning $22,000 in cash or the
vehicle 1:350,000. Odds of winning a 3 day/2 night vacation or $500
cash 349,999:350,000." Note the "OR" In other words you have one
chance of NOT winning the $500 or vacation.

I wonder where the 3 day/2 night vacation is? Siberia, you supply the
transportation?

Nonetheless, wife wants to go. She's the type that can't resist a
boardwalk "auction" house in Atlantic City. The flyer shows an '04
Mercedes with the number $500. Bad vibes.