Pair Files for Bankruptcy After Reading Sweepstakes Fine Print

A local couple has filed for bankruptcy after going on a spending spree based on the mistaken belief that they had won a $2-million sweepstakes offered by a Pacoima mail-order company.

“I just want to cry,” Kathy Work said Thursday. She and her husband, Dale, filed for bankruptcy Oct. 5.

The couple began borrowing money in January to buy cars, appliances and other items because they thought they had won the United States Purchasing Exchange’s “Multimillion Dollar Sweepstakes.” They spent nearly $41,000.

A Purchasing Exchange official, who declined to be identified, said the Multimillion Dollar Sweepstakes drawing had not even taken place. The $2.2-million prize will go to one winner Dec. 31. He declined further comment.

Sent Letters

The Purchasing Exchange began sending letters to Kathy Work last year that led her to believe she had won the sweepstakes.

She said she received several letters including one that read: “We are pleased to inform you that you have been designated to receive certified bank checks from United States Purchasing Exchange for $2,024,464 . . . your winning in our Multimillion Dollar Sweepstakes when you are the grand prize winner.”

Then she received what she thought was checks for $2 million and for $24,464. She was asked to endorse them and send them back along with her Social Security and bank account numbers.

“We were pretty dumb,” she said. “Maybe we didn’t read the fine print.”

Richard Eppstein, president of the Toledo Area Better Business Bureau, said the Purchasing Exchange letters “were an extremely convincing mailing by any standard.” He also said he had received at least 20 complaints about the mailings.