I won! I just had to pay a "fee" first. I did.

An email said I had won a contest I half remembered entering, and all I needed to do was cover a small processing fee to release the prize. It felt like paperwork standing between me and a windfall, not a trap.

I paid the first fee, then they cited shipping insurance, customs, and a final tax hold—each bill smaller than the last but endless. I kept sending money because I did not want to walk away from what I had already "invested" in the win.

Advance-fee prize scams harvest until you stop. There was no warehouse, no cheque in the mail—only rotating reasons to send another transfer. By the time I quit, I had moved thousands for a prize that never existed.

I told myself legitimate companies probably had annoying fees too, and admitting it was fake meant admitting I had been naive. Part of me knew the story should end after one payment, but hope kept overriding the math.

When the mailbox went silent and the phone number disconnected mid-sentence, I searched the promotion name plus scam and found identical scripts. Seeing my exact fee sequence on a warning page was when I stopped bargaining with the story.

I lost savings and the hope that sometimes good luck arrives in an inbox. Reporting shifted some of the grief into action, even though the cash was gone.

I now treat any prize that demands upfront payment as a no. I wish I had deleted the first email instead of funding the second fee.

• Legitimate prizes do not require endless prepaid fees—never pay to claim.

For more help, see our Report a scam page and Spot and avoid scams guide.