I would think any "FREE TRIP YOU WIN!" mail was a scam, too. FYL for having a cousin who, although being generous, doesn't think to send you mail you'll actually read without dismissing it instantly.

i would at least open the envelope first, just to be SURE it was a scam. you know what they say, when you assume you make an ass out of you and me.

I don't even think companies DO those scams with snail mail anymore. And you didn't even check who sent it? YDI. Dumbass.

they do! i got a scam in the mail a few weeks ago. it had a check in it for about 4 grand that i was supposed to cash, and then send back to them, to cover the "expenses" from claiming my actual "winning" of $250,000. yeah, i'll get right on that.

It probably wasn't "Free Trip" and they're just saying it because they're embarrassed. Also if you don't cash the cheque it doesn't detract. Fail FML.

yeah, why would you "win a trip" from your cousins. most people just tell you that they're giving you a free trip

You do realize that since the check was never deposited they just have to stop the first chech and write you a new chech for $5,000

totally true

Agreed

How was the OP a bitch? The cousin should have sent a personalized letter or given some sort of heads up that wouldn't ruin the surprise. I'd have thought it was a scam at first glance too. But if you tore up the check, it's just voided and your cousin should be able to write another one.

I don't think #3 even read the story, that's probably his generic "first" comment.

did you get swine flu?

i also wonder how safe it is with all the drug cartels going on a rampage

Argh! I hate all the swine flu jokes!

Good luck digging Cancun out of the trash! Haha

Yeah exactly! If you receive something that says "You have won a trip to Cancun, Mexico!" when you didn't even enter a competition for it, you'd instantly assume it was a scam. I don't blame you OP. That's just unfortunate. Your cousin, while really generous, is really stupid

How is the cousin stupid? It's the OPs fault for not fully checking 1) who sent it, 2) full contents of the envelope, 3) assuming it was junk mail. You know that is a huge reason that people don't hit the big money in the lottery. They make the really big winners in the scratch offs have teh same letter codes as the losers. That way when people look for the letter code and see losing letters, they throw away a big winnner. Nothing different here, just someone not patient enough or alert enough to check it out fully

People who are creative gives special gifts done in different and interesting ways all the time. So it looks like a "Winning Ticket"? Why wouldn't you notice that it came from a friend or relative? I've received handmade travel vouchers, and other certificates that are really gifts in disguise. If it has a friend's address on it, I'm going to assume it's real.

This is what I'm wonering

exactly what i was thinking. This is really less of a case of "my life is ******" and more "I'm stupid." FML's should really only be about people who couldn't control what happened to them, not people who made stupid decisions. tl;dr YDI

At first I thought you meant this post was tl;dr, but now I understand that the OP look at the letter and said "Ah it's a scam, tl;dr"