Winning - as players and punters alike in the World Cup know too well - is not easy. You need knowledge, talent, skills, hard work and lots more. Or luck.

Why, if you can answer 15 questions correctly on a TV show, you stand to win a million dollars. So far, no Singaporean has been knowledgeable or lucky enough.

If you are desperate to win something, however, it has now become very easy. Just go down to Orchard Road, or some other crowded place, and wait to be approached by a "surveyor" who will ask you five very simple questions: Are you a Singaporean? What is your name? Address? Contact? Favourite travel destination?

Then, viola! A few days later, you will receive a telephone call informing you that you have "won" a holiday for two at some fancy resort. Or, you may be given a "scratch and win" card and you can bet a million dollars that you will win that dream holiday, instantly!

You may not even have to take part in any so-called surveys. Out of the blue, someone might just call to say you've been lucky.

There's a catch, of course.

You will have to sit through a 90-minute sales presentation during which you might be influenced to buy a $26,000 resort time-share programme that you later realise is not worth a quarter that money.

Of course, you will be assured that you need not buy anything. Just sit through the 90 minutes to claim your prize which, you will then realise, is a dud. Sorry, there is no holiday resort waiting for you. You have just lost 90 minutes of your time.

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Not cheated?

You feel cheated. But are you?

Apparently not. People who are cheated can make police reports and have the cheats arrested and thrown into jail. Those who fall for these fake "wins" can only walk away feeling foolish. Companies engaged in such practices have been operating for years already, apparently without running foul of the law.

They are not the only companies that use falsehood and deception lure potential customers.

These past few days, my home has been visited several times by people offering to install a "free" home protection system. They tell the same story: Recently, there was a break-in in the neighbourhood. The equipment is free. It will activate an alarm in the event of break-ins and fires.

Free? Yes. Absolutely free. Shall we install it right away?

These people appear so altruistic that, the first time they came by, my sister thought they were offering a free service provided by the Housing and Development Board. In fact, the company's logo resembles the HDB's.

What they did not tell my sister was that, once the equipment has been installed, we would have to pay a monthly fee of $36. That's $432 per year, $4,320 in 10 years!

The people had not technically lied. But they had concealed vital information in order to try and sell a product and a service. In essence, this is the same as lying.

Then, there are the multi-level marketing companies. They invite people to attend "health seminars" where about 90 percent of the time is spent talking about wealth - how to earn tremendous amounts of money by recruiting friends and relatives to sell health supplements.

In these presentations, people are told how EASY it is to be earning more than $10,000 per month within six months. The reality is quite different. Few earn anything close to that. The majority manage, at most, a few hundred dollars per month.

What do we make of people who paint a scenario that is theoretically possible but never happens in practice? Are they lying? Cheating? Breaking the law?

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Magic stones!

Is it a crime to tell a person that he has won a prize when there is actually no element of winning involved? To send out fake cheques supposedly worth tens of thousands of dollars?

In essence, these acts are no different from selling "magic stones" with claimed supernatural powers. But while the people who sell magic stones risk getting thrown in jail, those who adopt more sophisticated forms of deception operate freely and openly.

On the one hand, we say let the buyer beware. Let those who pay $26,000 for time-share resorts think carefully before they sign the dotted line. Yes. Let consumers learn - the hard way - that nothing is for free.

On the other hand, why should the law treat one group of tricksters differently from another? If the law decides that it is criminal to deceive others, then the method of deception should not matter.

It should not matter whether a person says: "This magic stone will bring you good fortune" or "Congratulations! You've won a luxurious weekend vacation." The intention is the same - to deceive.

A lie is a lie. A cheat is a cheat.