Sweepstakes, Lottery Scams, and Fake Prizes: A Lose-Lose Game!

“Congratulations, you have just been selected to win $10,000! All you have to do is send a small payment to cover shipping and processing and we’ll send you your prize!”

Scammers know how to get your attention! You check it out to find out if it’s true and how you may get your money. But wait, you don’t remember entering any sweepstakes, buying any lottery ticket, or even registering for a prize draw. Then it dawns on you that it could be a scam! 

Lottery scammers know how to make you feel special. The agent calling you may suggest you keep your win a secret because it’s due to a mix-up of names and numbers. Don’t fall for it! If you respond to the email, they will ask you to give personal information and supporting documents to prove your identity. The fraudsters will use this information to steal your identity. 

This scam can also take another direction, which is telling you to contact the claims agent to pay transfer fees or processing charges so that they “distribute” or send you the winnings. If you go along with either of these two suggestions, you will never receive the money you won. Instead, you could lose more money. Note that lottery scams often use the names of genuine overseas lotteries to sell the scam as legit. 

Signs of a Lottery Scam

• You win a lottery that you didn’t enter, buy a ticket, or play.
• You win a lottery in another country. Known Spanish, Australian, and Canadian lotteries are the ones used often as scapegoats.
• You win but need to pay a processing fee, international transfer fee, tax, charge to claim your prize. Genuine Lotteries subtract fees and tax from your prize.
• You get a call from the “Federal Sweepstakes Board” or the federal government notifying you of your winnings.
• The email is from free account sites like Yahoo, MSN, Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, Live. Registered companies have their branded professional business emails.
• Failure to provide a full street address. Contact is limited to email and phone.
• Suggestions to keep the win confidential. 
   

Common Lottery Scams

Fake Sweepstakes Agent

Most scams are through phone calls, emails, or texts from scammers pretending to be agents for registered lotteries. They request more information to:

• wire the winnings to your account,
• pay processing charges, transfer fees, or taxes to release your prize,
• comply with some legal hurdle unknown to you.

Lottery Clerk Thieves

In the USA, there are lottery clerks who rip off genuine winners. Their job is to check the tickets for wins on the computer system. They hide some of the winnings that ticket owners bring for checking. The owner then abandons the ticket there thinking it’s useless. The clerks wait for a week or two and come to claim the win for themselves. 

How to protect yourself from lottery scams

• Ignore the message, email, or call. Hang up the phone if you feel pressured.
• Don’t send money at all. Regardless of how little, don’t send money in advance for whatever charge.
• Do not give any personal information even if they offer to wire the money directly to your account. Guard your credit card number, bank details, passport number, and even your full name.
• Don’t fall for their suggestion to call a number they’ll give you to verify your wins. It will be another scammer ready to trick you into giving your information. Especially if they give Caribbean area codes 876, 809, or 284 as these are known to be fraudster havens.
• Contact the actual lotto company directly. Use Google to get their contacts; write or call to find out if the claims are true.
• Install and use caller ID on your phone to check the area code of callers. This way you'll know foreign callers who are most likely scammers.
• Report the fraud and file a complaint with Federal Trade Commission or United States Postal Inspection Service. Report to Action Fraud if in the UK.
• Check our list of Reliable Lottery Sites to keep you from falling for Lottery Scams.

If you fall victim to a lottery scam

• Cease all contact with the scammers immediately.
• Notify your bank and the relevant anti-fraud authorities in your country.
• Note and save all the information that you gave to the scammers. It will help determine the extent of the damage and your future protection.
• Report the incident to the actual lottery company.
• Be extra careful online because you may now be targeted with other scams as fraudsters have your details.