Lottery

    Recently there were quite a few people who must have thought they'd won the lottery.  They had been moved far from their homes and isolated from friends and family.  Supervised and watched they were given tasks and a schedule to follow without question.

   Why'd they have reason to think they'd won the lottery?

   Because their isolation was ended.

   They were returned home in the relative blink of an eye.

   Questions should have been asked about that and answers given.  Except no on knew what questions should be asked.  If they had it's doubtful they would have been so quick to return.

   Why do I say that?

   Because it was a ruse.

   Here's the definition of a ruse:

      ruse: an action intended to deceive someone; a trick.   synonyms: ploy ~ stratagem ~ tactic

   So what is the situation I've been describing?

   Inmates from certain prison institutions were released years before their sentences had been served.  They were allowed to go home and start living their lives again.  Except it wasn't quite what it seemed.

   A plan was in place to catalog, inventory, and associate everyone those ex-inmates came into contact with to build a database of people considered interesting.

   How interesting would someone need to be for inclusion?

   We need to know what questions to ask.