How sweepstakes entry data can reach scammers

It's summer. Mall kiosks promise free cruises. Retailers run drawings at checkout. Entry cards sit in stacks near the register. You fill one out, drop it in the box and forget about it by the time you reach your car.

That may be the last moment the information feels contained. Many sweepstakes are legitimate. Still, the official rules or privacy policy may allow the sponsor, its affiliates or marketing partners to use and share your information. The privacy risk grows when those details become part of a larger marketing profile, move through the data broker industry or reach buyers running deceptive campaigns.

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A basic sweepstakes entry may ask for your name, email address and phone number. Some promotional forms request far more, including your age range, household income, health interests, medications or magazine subscriptions. Those extra questions can have marketing value even when they have little connection to selecting a winner.

The Federal Trade Commission has found that data brokers collect information from online and offline sources, including purchases, magazine subscriptions, income data and other personal details. Brokers can combine those records into profiles that help marketers predict what may capture your attention.

Before entering, ask yourself whether the sponsor truly needs each answer. The more information you provide, the more detailed the resulting profile can become.

Responding to a sweepstakes can become a valuable signal. It tells a marketer that a prize—based offer caught your attention and persuaded you to provide personal information. The FTC has warned that sweepstakes promoters may sell entry information to advertisers. That can lead to more targeted advertising, junk mail, telemarketing calls and spam.

Your entry may also be combined with purchase histories, demographic estimates and records collected from other sources. As a result, the profile can reveal far more than the few answers written on the original form. Once you are categorized as someone who responds to sweepstakes, your information may become more valuable to companies promoting similar offers. The danger grows when a poorly controlled list reaches a buyer running a fraudulent campaign.

Epsilon Data Management was one of the world's largest marketing companies. It entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the after acknowledging that one of its business units sold consumer lists to mass-mailing fraud schemes. Those operations sent false sweepstakes notices and astrology solicitations. The mailings claimed recipients had won prizes or could receive personalized psychic services after paying a fee. People who paid received nothing of value.

Epsilon agreed to pay $150 million in penalties and victim compensation. Of that amount, $127.5 million was designated for people harmed by fraud schemes that used Epsilon data. Many of the people targeted were o