Some Beauty Pageants are a scam. Because it's not really complicated and there's no grand oversight to hosting a local Beauty Pageant, some pageant organizers are really just there for the money. While they may give out tiaras and sashes the day of the pageant, bigger prizes - like scholarships and cash - sometimes never appear, and the scammers make off with the entry fees. Which stinks, because most small pageants are just people who love the pageant world and want to start one.