Am I in legal trouble? Having anxiety attack. I tried to do something nice but it backfired.?

[Michael]

Let me explain what happened.

Esurance was hosting a competition earlier this week to win $1.5 million on twitter. To enter, all you had to do was tweet a hash tag, and by the end of the competition winners would be randomly selected. Those winners would be notified by direct message.

Shortly after the competition ended, Esurance followed 4 people who tweeted the hashtag and it was believed that one of these people were the winner and 3 others were alternates. All but 1 person responded -- the other 3 people claimed they didn't receive a message and likely did not win. This one person however apparently stepped away for several hours and given what the others said, it seemed as though he was the winner. But there's a problem...

Esurance specifically states: Winner will be notified that he/she may have won a prize by direct Twitter message (an “Unofficial Winner Notification”) to his/her Twitter account as provided to Sponsor on or about February 4, 2014 at 2:45am PT and must reply to such message via Direct Message to @Esurance no later than 1:00pm PT on that same day. [...] In the event of noncompliance with these requirements, the prize may be forfeited in Sponsor’s sole discretion. The Affidavit is subject to verification by Sponsor.

I'd hate for anyone to lose out on this opportunity, so stupidly I tried to find out more about the guy using his twitter information (he put his name). Within a minute, I found his college e-mail to which I e-mailed him letting him know that he was being followed and that there was a chance he was the winner.

But then I took things a bit far, I figured he wouldn't see the message in time. So using white pages, I called his house and his mom answered. I explained the situation and explained that her son had the chance of winning this prize and that she should get in touch with her son asap to respond before the deadline. I advised her to tell her son to check his twitter and his e-mail to see what I sent him.

---

Apparently, I must have not been clear enough (I admit I was nervous making that call, ..it was weird). But I did make it a point to clarify that he MAY be a winner. She took it as he was a winner and I guess relayed this to her son.

Anyways, about two hours later, I receive a phone call -- "Hello -- goes quiet" .... silence ...I hear a few beeps. I hang up.

A minute after, a call back. "Hello?" We basically talked back and fourth about my exchange with his mom earlier. He had a few questions and concerns about how I got ahold of his information (understandable) and what my motive was. ALL THE WHILE, I could hear beeps in the background, so it's clear I was being recorded. He then told me I was committing fraud and started spewing some law language about some law I was breaking. I freaked out -- I told him I had to step outside for a moment -- then I asked what did he mean. I tried clarifying that I was only trying to help and I was apologetic but he still seems infuriated.

I'm worried I put myself in a serious legal situation. He has my cell phone number and my e-mail. He told me what city I was based in (I'm guessing by my area code) and I confirmed with him that he was correct. I'm afraid cops will come knocking at my door or something. I didn't mean any harm and was trying to help. Now I'm worried that they are going to pursue this both with Esurance and local law enforcement.

I'm like having an anxiety attack.
I recently sent this e-mail:

I just want to apologize again for any confusion and to clear up what happened exactly, and how and why I tried to reach out to you.

---

I decided to check my twitter feed this morning and noticed that Esurion was following 4 people from last night, your twitter account being one of them.

Of the 4 people that were being followed, none of them received any direct message from Esurion based on their tweets, so I assumed that you may have been the possible winner. The deadline to respond according to their rules was 1 PM PST -- anyone who did not respond would be disqualified from winning. This is what their rules state (http://www2.esurance.com/pdf/winbigrules.pdf):

Winner will be notified that he/she may have won a prize by direct Twitter message (an “Unofficial Winner Notification”) to his/her Twitter account as provided to Sponsor on or about February 4, 2014 at 2:45am PT and must reply to such message via Direct Message to @Esurance no later than
1:00pm PT on that same day. [...] In the event of noncompliance with these requirements, the prize may be forfeited in Sponsor’s sole discretion. The Affidavit is subject to verification by Sponsor.

At this point, I should have not involved myself -- but I was thinking with my heart and not my brain. I figured if I was in your position, I would want someone to tell me, so I tried to reach out to you. By googling your name, I was able to come across your college e-mail and at first, sent you an e-mail letting you know about the situation. I figured there was a chance you wouldn't read the e-mail in time, so in the moment, I tried to reach out to you directly. Using white pages, I came across a number -- which as it turned out, happened to be your mom. When I spoke with your mom, perhaps I wasn't clear, but I basically explained to her you entered a competition on twitter and that the deadline for the competition was 1 PM -- and there was a possibility you could be one o
of the chosen candidates.

In hindsight, I realize how this can all be very confusing and I did not think things through. It was only until after your phone call that I realized the mistake I made. I didn't expect to be accused of fraud or for anyone to be upset. But I realize now that I shouldn't have involved myself at all. I was only trying to help and I'm sorry for any confusion or misunderstanding I may have caused you and your mom. I honestly feel terrible.

I wish you the best of luck.

[confused]

Don't worry, this guy is an idiot. You didn't do anything wrong, you were trying to help him. You should have said "since I went through all this trouble to help you can I have a share of the money if you win?"

What you did wasn't illegal.

[Sean]

Nothing to worry about, but it is a lesson in minding your own business !

[Najo]

Ok maybe u did wrong by going out ur way to help this guy, lesson learnt my friend had he won would he have even thanked you? Nowadays everyone's information is public you can find anyone!
Your intentions were good bcz u seem like a good person hence the worry now, if he does go to the police what they going to say to him? And what charges are they going to be brought against you? Ok you tried helping but he is trying to record your voice without your consent isn't he so what is he doing exactly? I live in the uk so I know it's illegal here not sure about the law there bit I'm guessing it's going to be the same, so next time he tries calling you, just say to him I know your recording my conversation which is against the law, I tried helping you and you obviously didn't appreciate the effort it was wrong of you and u didn't mean any harm, if you want to go report it go ahead because ur intensional were not malicious and hang up, block his email address and ignore any further calls

[David]

Fraud requires intent. You had no intent to defraud him, so you're probably OK there. You sent one email and one phone call - that's not enough to be harassment. I don't see what law you broke here.

The cops could easily track you by your phone number if they felt like it, but I really doubt there's a case.

DO NOT delete any emails you sent him, just in case he tries to sue you. I don't see how he'd win, but you can get in trouble for spoiling evidence.