Without Bad Luck, No Luck At All

luckless links to original article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 2 August 2011)

Saim Aybak, who works in a bakery, participated in a contest to win a
Mini-Cooper automobile arranged by Virgin Radio. Since he had been
hoodwinked once before, Aybak wrote the name 'Ibrahim Acıferhat' on
the contest entry form. When he won he regretted that he had used a false
name.

Aybak, who is 33, works as a day laborer in a bakery in Bozyazı district
of Mersin. About two and a half months ago while walking in the Beyoğlu
district of Istanbul he signed up for a contest run by Virgin Radio. In his
own words, he said that he was approached by two women who told him
'find the gum inside this car and the Mini-Cooper is yours.'  Aybak signed
the entry form and found the gum in the car. But because he had been fooled
once before he put the name 'Ibrahim Acıferhat' on the contest form instead
of his real name.

Aybak explained that two years ago, while eating in a Beyoğlu Municipality
restaurant a person approached him and identified himself as the personnel
manager of a large company.  This person told Aybak that he would send
him to Germany for a job and opened a phone account in Aybak's name.
Subsequently, when Aybak didn't pay the telephone bills he received a
debt notice in the amount of 5,800TL from the Şişli Debt Collection
Authority arrived. Aybak filed an objection with the Şişli Prosecutor and
court proceedings are continuing.

Unlucky winner Aybak said that with this fraud experience in mind he had
put down a different name for the Mini-Cooper contest but after winning
he felt regret. Now, he says he wants the car he won but his only hope is
the telephone number he wrote on the form. 'My one hope is the phone
number I put down on the contest form, which is registered in my real
name. There's no one named 'Ibrahim Acıferhat'. I'm throwing myself at
the mercy of the company that ran the contest and expecting to get the
Mini-Cooper I've won. But I don't even have money enough to pay the
car's operating expenses myself.'

It was difficult to convince Saim Aybak that he had won the Mini-Cooper
in the Virgin Radio contest. One of the station's DJs, Geveze (Chatterbox),
called Aybak during his program yesterday morning to tell him that he had
won the car. Aybak, however, fearing that he might be duped yet again,
told Geveze 'don't call me again!' and slammed the phone down. Aybak
was called again a number of times and responded the same way each
time.