Independent profile. Not owned, sponsored or endorsed by American Cash Awards.

American Cash Awards Reviews & Complaints

American Cash Awards handled payments and refunds for door-to-door magazine sales crews from about 2004 to 2010, according to complainants. In 2012 a Colorado court barred it from door-to-door magazine sales. From 2011 the same name appears in letters saying people won millions and must pay fees first.

REVIEWS & COMPLAINTS172on USAComplaints · 1 in 2023-2026
PROFILE CHECKED
Submit a Complaint Read reviews & complaints ↓
EDITORIAL

Is American Cash Awards Legitimate?

BBB figures

Legal name
American Cash Awards, Inc.
Business type
Name used by a door-to-door magazine sales clearinghouse and, later, in advance-fee prize solicitations

Magazine sales. American Cash Awards, Inc. was a defendant in the Colorado Attorney General's 2012 consumer protection case, together with Jennifer Proffitt-Payne, Cody Payne, Great Lakes Circulation, Inc. and seven other companies. The court served the companies through the Paynes, entered default against them, and permanently barred all the defendants from door-to-door magazine sales in Colorado (see the court entry on this page). Complainants on this site, including a former crew member, describe American Cash Awards as the clearinghouse that took payments, cancellations and refund requests for crews selling under many names, among them Great Lakes Circulation and Face To Face Technologies.

Prize solicitations. BBB says both Las Vegas addresses on its American Cash Awards listing are invalid according to the U.S. Postal Service, that it could not obtain a valid address, and that many of the listed phone numbers are in Jamaica. The New York Fed has said it has no connection to American Cash Awards. A federal prosecution in North Dakota shows how these calls work.

Authorities there said the scheme began with a call telling people they could receive millions of dollars in American Cash Awards once they paid a fee for taxes on the prize. A woman from Harvey, North Dakota lost about $300,000 in 2011. The scheme took more than $5.7 million from at least 90 mostly elderly Americans. Sanjay Ashani Williams, a Jamaican man who sold lists of potential victims to lottery callers and also made calls himself, was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison; the Eighth Circuit upheld the verdict and sentence in 2016. The Colorado magazine-sales judgment does not mention prize solicitations.

EXTERNAL SOURCE

Independent Sources

BBBAugusta, GA listing, complaints in the last 3 years
0 reviews · 0 complaints · BBB business grade F
Figures checked
BBBLas Vegas, NV listing, complaints in the last 3 years
32 reviews · 12 complaints · BBB business grade F
Figures checked
EDITORIAL

Complaint Themes

Prize calls and letters demanding fees or taxes before payoutDoor-to-door magazine sales with unpaid refunds and ignored cancellationsSweepstakes letters falsely claiming winnings are held at the New York Fed

Themes, not a count of complaints.

CONSUMER ALLEGATION

Reviews & Complaints on USAComplaints

172 complaints linked to the American Cash Awards profile are published on this site (2004-2026). 1 is from 2023-2026.

Show 15 more complaints on this page
EDITORIAL

What Complainants Allege

Door-to-door magazine sales, about 2004 to 2010. Complainants describe young traveling salespeople who said they were earning points toward a scholarship or trip, or claimed ties to a school, charity or the military, and pressed for a check on the spot. Common complaints: subscriptions that cost far more than the same magazines sold elsewhere, magazines that never arrived, cancellations sent within three days that were ignored. Other complaints describe checks cashed right away or changed to a higher amount, bank details kept after the sale, and refund requests that went unanswered or led to collection threats.

Prize calls and letters, 2011 onward. Complainants describe unsolicited calls, letters or emails saying they had won millions of dollars, often with a Mercedes-Benz, and had to pay taxes, delivery, legal or release fees first. Payment was requested by Western Union transfer, money order or Green Dot MoneyPak card; the sweepstakes letters described by the New York Fed also asked for gift card codes. Many calls came from Jamaican numbers in the 876 area code. Complainants who paid report that no prize arrived and that callers kept asking for more money.

Had an experience with American Cash Awards? Tell other people what happened.

Submit a Complaint
EDITORIAL

If You're Contacted by "American Cash Awards"

If someone says you won a prize

  • Do not pay anything. A real sweepstakes never asks a winner to pay taxes, delivery, legal or release fees up front, and you cannot win a contest you never entered. Do not send money by wire, money order, prepaid card or gift card codes, and do not give out bank or card numbers.
  • Hang up and do not call back numbers the caller gives you, especially numbers in the 876 area code (Jamaica), which can carry international charges.
  • A letter or email that says your winnings are held at the Federal Reserve is false: the Federal Reserve does not hold accounts for individuals.

If you already paid

  • Credit card: call the issuer at once and dispute the charge, then follow up in writing. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, a written billing-error dispute must reach the issuer within 60 days after the first statement showing the charge was sent.
  • Debit card, bank transfer or check: call your bank right away and ask it to stop or reverse the payment.
  • Wire transfer or money order: call the company you used (for example Western Union) and report the transfer as fraud; a transfer not yet picked up can sometimes be stopped.
  • Gift card or prepaid card: call the company that issued the card, using the number on the back of the card or on its website, tell it the card was used in a fraud and ask whether the funds can be frozen. Keep the card and the receipt.
  • Expect follow-up calls from people offering to recover your money for a fee. That is a second fraud attempt.

Where to report

  • Federal Trade Commission: ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
  • FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center: ic3.gov, which the New York Fed recommends for sweepstakes letters that use its name.
  • Your state attorney general's consumer protection office.
  • Mail solicitations: the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at uspis.gov.
  • If the target is 60 or older, the U.S. Justice Department's National Elder Fraud Hotline, (833) 372-8311, helps with reporting and next steps.

If a door-to-door seller signed you up for magazines

  • For a sale made in the last few days, the FTC Cooling-Off Rule lets you cancel most sales of $25 or more made at your home until midnight of the third business day after the sale (Saturday counts; Sundays and federal holidays do not). The seller must tell you about this right and give you two copies of a cancellation form; send one, or your own signed and dated letter, by a method that gives you proof of mailing, and keep a copy.
  • After you cancel, the seller has 10 days to cancel any check you signed and refund all your money.
  • Once that window has passed, the rule no longer gives you a right to cancel; ask your bank to stop a check that has not cleared, or your card issuer about a dispute.
  • If no refund comes, file complaints with your state attorney general, the FTC and BBB. If the seller or its clearinghouse is based in Colorado, the Colorado Attorney General takes complaints at stopfraudcolorado.gov or (800) 222-4444.
PUBLIC RECORD

Court & Public Records

State of Colorado ex rel. Suthers v. Proffitt-Payne, Payne, Great Lakes Circulation, Inc., American Cash Awards, Inc., et al.

Judgment

District Court, City and County of Denver, ColoradoDecided Docket 2012CV2479Source ↗

Judgment enteredConsumer protection case brought by the Colorado Attorney General under the Colorado Consumer Protection Act against Jennifer Proffitt-Payne, Cody Payne and ten companies, including Great Lakes Circulation, Inc. and American Cash Awards, Inc. One company, Direct Youth Marketing, was dismissed from the case. The court entered default against American Cash Awards and the other companies on July 29, 2012. The Paynes filed answers without a lawyer in June 2012, but no defendant appeared at case management conferences on July 30 and August 16, 2012 or filed the required initial disclosures, and the court entered default against the Paynes on August 22, 2012. The court found probable cause that the defendants misled consumers about refunds, failed to deliver magazines that were ordered and misrepresented ties to charities, hospitals, schools and the military. It found the violations deliberate, knowing, in bad faith and repeated, and that the Paynes knew their sales crews made false statements to consumers and did nothing to stop it. The judgment, signed by Judge Martin Egelhoff, permanently bars all eleven remaining defendants from door-to-door magazine sales in Colorado, including running a Colorado-based company that sends sales crews to other states. The money judgment of $993,940.83 is owed by the Paynes alone: $885,000 in civil penalties ($500,000 against Jennifer Proffitt-Payne and $385,000 against Cody Payne), $60,000 in attorney fees and $48,940.83 in restitution or unjust enrichment. The order imposes no money judgment on American Cash Awards, Inc.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York consumer warning about American Cash Awards sweepstakes letters

Allegation

Federal Reserve Bank of New York, public consumer warning, not a lawsuitDecided Source ↗

Allegation only — no filing confirmedIn August 2022 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York warned the public about unsolicited emails and letters claiming the recipient had won millions of dollars in a sweepstakes linked to American Cash Awards, the American Gaming Association and/or the IRS, with the winnings supposedly held in an account at the New York Fed. Recipients were told to pay a legal fee, release fee or taxes first, or to buy gift cards and send the claim codes. The New York Fed said it is not associated with American Cash Awards, the American Gaming Association or the IRS, does not hold accounts for individuals and never asks the public for money through unsolicited messages. It advises recipients to report such messages to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. This is a public warning, not a court ruling or enforcement action.
EDITORIAL

What Is American Cash Awards? One Name, Two Kinds of Complaints

The name American Cash Awards turns up in two different kinds of consumer complaints that involve different methods, so the facts on this page are grouped by kind.

Magazine subscriptions sold door to door (about 2004 to 2010). Complaints on this site describe American Cash Awards as the clearinghouse behind traveling crews that sold magazine subscriptions under names including Great Lakes Circulation and Face To Face Technologies. Salespeople, often teenagers or young adults, said they were earning points toward a scholarship or a trip. American Cash Awards, Inc. was one of the companies a Denver court barred from door-to-door magazine sales in Colorado in 2012, in a case brought by the Colorado Attorney General. A report by the anti-trafficking group Polaris Project says reports of activity by this sales network dropped to almost zero after 2012.

Prize calls, letters and emails (2011 onward). The same name is used to tell people they have won millions of dollars and must pay taxes or fees before the prize is released. BBB rates its American Cash Awards listings in Las Vegas, NV and Augusta, GA F, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has warned the public about sweepstakes letters that use the name.

172 complaints linked to the American Cash Awards profile are published on this site (2004-2026).

EDITORIAL

Frequently Asked Questions

Is American Cash Awards a legitimate company?

The name American Cash Awards has been used in two ways. In the 2000s it was the name of a clearinghouse for door-to-door magazine crews; American Cash Awards, Inc. and its co-defendants were permanently barred from door-to-door magazine sales in Colorado by a 2012 default judgment won by the Colorado Attorney General. Since 2011 it has been used in calls, letters and emails that announce a large prize and ask for taxes or fees first. BBB gives its American Cash Awards listings an F rating, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has warned that sweepstakes letters using the name are false. Do not pay anything to collect a prize.

Is American Cash Awards a scam?

American Cash Awards is listed by BBB as a business in Las Vegas, NV; BBB says it is not accredited, gives it an F rating and says both addresses it has on file are invalid according to the U.S. Postal Service. American Cash Awards, Inc. was a defendant in the Colorado Attorney General's 2012 case in Denver District Court (No. 2012CV2479), in which the court permanently barred the defendants from door-to-door magazine sales in Colorado. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York says it is not associated with American Cash Awards and warns about unsolicited sweepstakes emails and letters naming American Cash Awards that ask for fees or taxes in advance. Complaints on this site concern calls, letters and sales.

Where is American Cash Awards located and what phone number does it use?

BBB's listing for American Cash Awards in Las Vegas, NV gives two addresses, 303 Carson St and 15 Bankers Ln, Las Vegas, NV 89101. The listing says both are invalid addresses according to the U.S. Postal Service and that BBB has been unable to obtain a valid address for the company. BBB also says the company provides an 876 phone number, which is Jamaica, and that calls made to these phone numbers are costly.

Are the magazine sales crews and the prize callers the same company?

Nothing has shown that American Cash Awards' magazine crews and the prize callers are the same company. American Cash Awards, Inc., the magazine clearinghouse, was a defendant with the Paynes and their companies in the Colorado Attorney General's case, and the 2012 judgment barred them from door-to-door magazine sales in Colorado. The prize solicitations, which began around 2011, use Jamaican phone numbers and U.S. addresses that BBB says are invalid, and the man convicted at trial in the North Dakota prize-call prosecution, Sanjay Williams, is from Jamaica. Neither the Colorado judgment, the New York Fed warning nor the BBB listings connect the magazine business with the prize calls. Judge any call or letter that uses this name on its own facts: a demand for money before a prize is paid is the warning sign.

CONSUMER ALLEGATION

Related Complaints

Role in the other company’s page