Sweepstakesand giveaways have become an enormously popular pastime for people all around the world—in fact, some people have become so dedicated to the craft that they are able to survive off their winnings and cash exchanges. But we’re not all pros, and if approached with a blind eye, entering a sweepstakes can cost you years of financial damage, not to mention decades of identity-theft repercussions. We’ve dug up a little industry insight, along with the best web-service tips available, to find out exactly what makes or breaks a sweepstakes scam. We advise reading over our list of heads-ups before you attempt to tackle the world of “sweeping.”

1. “You can only win a sweepstakes that you enter,” according to About.com. If you don’t recognize the name of the contest, " target="_self" sweepstakes or giveaway , assume it is a scam. To avoid confusion, organize your entry forms in alphabetical order so you may reference them upon receiving notification.

2. “Check the site for official rules,” says Gina Mucci, assistant account manager at Realtime Media, one of North America’s leading technology-driven promotions specialists. “All legitimate promotions will have a link to the official rules somewhere on the page that is easily accessible.” According to eHow.com, the information you should look for in the rules includes a closing date, the approximate retail value (ARV) of the prize, eligibility requirements and an address to request a list of winners.

3. “Sweepstake scams won’t address you by name,” according to About.com. Be on the lookout fore-mailwin notifications—many sweepstakes send thousands of counterfeit electronic mail out in bulk to e-mail addresses pulled from a random database, and they don’t know who they’re sending them to. “If your win notification has a generic salutation like ‘Dear Sir,’ it’s a good indication that it’s asweepstakesscam.”

4. “No legit promotion will everinitiallyrequire you to enter your social security number,” says Mucci. “The typical information collected on the registration page is name, e-mail address, phone number, home address and, on occasion, date of birth.” According to About.com, once you have received notification, you will be asked to complete (and sometimes notarize) an affidavit, which is a legal document used to confirm your identity and eligibility to receive a prize, your non-affiliation with both the sponsor and judging agency, and your permission to publish your name in a list of winners for others to see. At that point, you will be asked to provide your SSN so the sponsor or judging company may authorize your win. It is then OK to provide it.

5. “Asking for a bank account or credit card number is a huge red flag that you are dealing with a sweepstakes scam, and you should never hand over this information,” according to About.com. “Legitimate sweepstakes do not send wins by direct deposit, do not need to withdraw money from your account and do not need to verify your identity using your credit card number.”

6. Sweepstakes prizes are usually sent via bulk mail such as UPS, FedEx or DHL, which most legit companies have partnerships with, according to About.com. “When a legitimate sponsor sends out win notifications, they want to ensure that the information arrives at the winners’ doors in a reasonable amount of time.”

7. “To appear more legitimate, somesweepstakesscams pretend to come from government organizations such as the ‘National Sweepstakes Board’ (which doesn’t exist),” according to About.com. Be warned that real sweepstakes companies are usually one to their own and will send notification letters directly to winners.

8. Research! “In the official rules, check to see who the sponsor is: Do you recognize them?” says Mucci. If not, look them up, or better yet, call the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org) in the company’s area and make sure they’re registered with a permit.

9. “While it’s possible that any company can make a mistake while writing a notification letter,” according to About.com, major errors or typos that signify the sweepstakes may have originated outside of the U.S. or Canada or with people with poor command of the language, are a huge red flag.

10. If a registration form contains CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart), which “generates and grades tests that humans can answer, but current computer programs cannot,” it’s a good sign that they are only interested in legitimate entries.

" target="_self" For more on Sweepstakes and Giveaways check out  WomansDay.com today!