Jackpot Winner - "How Can I Help My Family Anonymously?"

The scenario:

Let's say that I've won upwards of £80m on the Euro Lottery, but I've since gone anonymous and don't want anybody, not even my family (I'm the youngest child - still at uni), to know.

But the thing is, my family has massive debts (nearly £200k, I believe) and rents a home and barely gets by every month.

If I try the "cash through letter-box" approach, they might get suspicious and turn it into the cops.

They're also highly religious (Christian), so that might be a factor?

What do you think? How would you help them?

And if I try to pay off their debts - won't they be able to trace who paid off their debts or who's paying off their bills?

Thoughts? How would you do it?

Thanking you in advance,

Alexander.

I don't get it--either lose the anonymity to pay off the debt, or don't touch it at all. I'm sure the family would be grateful to have their debt wiped and would repay by respecting the person's desire for anonymity.

Why can't the person in question trust their family enough to do them a favor without fear of some kind of backlash?

If all else fails, just mail a package full of cash from a P.O. Box address with a note that says "Pay off your debt with this" or something.

I'm not going to pretend I understand all your "what if" threads though. What is the source of that quote anyway?

congrats on the win
i would tell them

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


I'm sending you my P.O. Box address. with a list of my debts...Congrats...and THANK YOU!!!....

Des

Quietly buy a very very valuable antique and give it as a gift. Claim you saw it in a thrift store or something and got it cheap. Then plant the idea that it might be worth something. The trick would be to make it so they think it's their idea to go and get it appraised.

I dont know how possible this would be since buying something worth 6 figures usually leaves a pretty solid paper trail that might lead back to you with enough research.

I definantly understand where the person who originally posed the question is coming from. If i came in to a very large sum of money i would never let anyone in my family know. I love my family, but i also know them better than anyone else and i know they would stop at nothing to take it

DC

Give it to me, I'll see it gets to them.

Get a lawyer. If you have won a lot of money you have to anyway Tell him what you want to do and tell him to tell your family that someone wishes to anonymously help them out. Have him assure them that the money has been legally obtained. Have him tell them that the donor knows them and owes them a debt of gratitude from a time when he had nothing and that they did something decades ago for him that probably saved his life and now that he is well off feels that he should share some of his good fortune with his benefactors. This is true. They fed you when you were a penniless infant. Decades ago will put them off the scent as regards you. And if you were only 19 years old, for example, that is 1 and 9/10 decades so that is true also. And as long as you are getting a lawyer, have him draw up a will.

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens
Send them cashiers checks through an attorney, and have the attorney send you one as well, with a letter saying that they are acting as executor of the estate of an extremely distant relative who wished to remain anonymous even in death. Then call them and make a big fuss about the check that YOU received and ask if they each got one too.

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


What country are we talking about, though it really shouldn't matter. Winners have to made public, else lottery officials can claim anonymous winners and just keep the money.

If I hold a winning multimillion dollar ticket my four-step plan is: To the lottery, to the bank, to the airport and gone.
I will share my winnings from a distance.

I can understand the desire for anonymity. IF I ever won a big jackpot I would want to help my friends and family... BUT here's the thing with my very redneck family. Both brothers and each parent would want MORE MORE MORE! I'm serious... I could give them each 5 mil each and they would be up my butt for more in less than a year.

Here's a show that's so old it was already in reruns when I was a kid:



IIRC, The premise is explained at the beginning of the show, but in a nutshell:

Millionaire chooses worthy recipient, sends own agent to deliver check with the stipulation that they never reveal where it came from.

ETA: Yeah, what TomSchnadelbach said above.

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


Hmmmm... I have $60k in student loans that will take me a lifetime to pay off.... You can mail me a check and just send extra for your family. I will send it to them. =) I do like the idea of the "distant family member" sending you each an inheritance. That seems like it would really work well. For myself, I would pay off my student loans, buy my mother and sister a home or pay off a home value worth of debt for them each, buy them a vehicle, and then give them a small sum to play with. Set up my sister's kids and my own with a trust to pay for their own futures. And then buy myself a small "tiny house" and set up a community garden project. I want to allow the elderly and those without money for food to come in and help tend a garden to grow food to feed their families. I know I could sure use the help now to feed my own kids. Winning a huge sum like that... I would make sure other's were taken care of. *sigh* it is good to have dreams! =)

If it was family whose house I frequent, I would snag their bills, see who the debts are to and for how much, and just pay them directly. Yeah, I guess that would be mail fraud, but pretty sure the family wouldn't care. Or, as another poster said, hire an attorney or financial advisor or something and claim they were due some money form some long forgotten estate or land they may have once owned. I've often thought this question myself, because if I ever hit the big one, I'd like to give my family a leg up without them knowing that its me.

Partner,yove got a lot of money to have to worry about annonymously hellping.....
Set up a bank account with the money in it.....and give the person the plastic card.....
You can probably come up with some ruse to present them with it....
tell them they won on a ticket you bought them??

Be vague. You won some money and want to wipe the debt clean, you have enough to save. Then be firm and state that you will not disclose how much you won and that you will not be giving out loans and would like to keep the matter private.

I'm thinking there are some sneaky ways to do it too. I'd retain legal counsel on the thing.

Originally posted by Domo1
Be vague. You won some money and want to wipe the debt clean, you have enough to save. Then be firm and state that you will not disclose how much you won and that you will not be giving out loans and would like to keep the matter private.

I'm thinking there are some sneaky ways to do it too. I'd retain legal counsel on the thing.

I know a way: Get a stack of pre-paid debit cards and give me a list with who each needs to go to. I will deliver them and if they start asking questions I will kick them in the shins and run. Then we will meet up at a pre-arranged place and fly to Tahiti for tropical drinks!

You have enough dough to start your own foundation.....
thren let the phoney foundation for the betterment of the jonses help them out??

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


Contact a lawyer to do the dirty work - as simple as that.

The customer relationship remains in confidentiality, and the well articulated anonymous lawyer will explain the nature of the private donation to help the family - while not divulging the source of the benefactor. Call it "a member of the Church".

reply to post by HomoSapiensSapiens


Not understanding the anonymity. Most lotto winners are a matter of public record, so wouldn't be too hard to do the math.

If I won a lot of money, I'd give out some cash investments to certain friends/couples as seed money for whatever dream they wanted to pursue.

I'd still live in the same place, but we'd certainly find ways to improve the ranch. We'd get some new trucks, a nice boat, and cars for the kids, and maybe do a little traveling. At least before deciding what business idea we'd go for. (or if we even wanted to work at all, though I'd imagine we'd have the need to do something).

You could pay off their mortgages in the full amount of the purchase price, as it's pretty much public info or info that's easy enough to get. They could then apply the change to the remaining debts they have. An anonymous benefactor would be so romantic and so much fun. (sigh) It would be an enjoyable exercise in creativity for you. Education funds set up for the kiddies would be among my top priorities, as it would remove a lot of worry from the parents. Include some mysterious prepaid vacation packages perhaps?

It creates an uneven field though, and I would resent not being able to know who sent it, because in my life experience there is always a price attached to a freebee.