The FTC just started an investigation involving deceptive sweepstakes practices. These companies target the elderly and make them think that they will receive a bunch of money. In reality, they will never see any of it. The most popular of these scams is called Social Security.
Social security is a legalized Ponzi scheme... A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering returns other investments cannot guarantee, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. The perpetuation of the returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors to keep the scheme going. Ok so it's not short term investments but you get the picture...
