Consumer Fraud
Reporting
Lotteries
Reporting on the Latest Frauds, Scams, Fake Lotteries,
Spams and Hoaxes
Consumer Fraud
Reporting
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Lottery Scams - How to Recognize Them"Congratulations! "Hundreds of U.S. citizens win
every week using our secret system! Sound great? It's a fraud.Scam operators — often based in the Netherlands, Canada and Nigeria— are using the telephone and direct mail to entice U.S. (and other global) consumers to buy chances in high-stakes foreign lotteries from as far away as Australia and Europe. There are several different types of lottery scams:
This page discusses the first type, the fake lottery winning notification. Click on the links above for the other types. * Remember, no legitimate lottery will EVER notify you that you won. They don't work that way! What is a Lottery?Unlike a sweepstakes, a lottery
is a promotional device by which items of value (prizes) are Lotteries in the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain, and most developed countries, are illegal, except when conducted by states and certain exempt licensed charitable organizations. If you believe you have received a solicitation in the guise of a sweepstakes which is an illegal lottery, you should contact your local Post Office™ or state Attorney General’s consumer protection office How does a lottery scam work?Victims typically are notified they have won a lottery, yet have to pay transfer fees, taxes or provide proof of their identity and/or details of their bank accounts or credit cards in order to receive the "winnings". The names of these organizations change all the time (they just make up a new name when one is exposed as a fraud), although many of the notifications use similar wording. Click here for a step-by-step description of how the scammers work their scams. And if you want to see examples of the scam emails, click on the links in this page. Here are some replies from scammers after victims replied to the lottery scam emails. A lottery is a promotional device by which items of value are awarded to members of the public by chance, but which requires some form of payment to participate. In the United States and most developed countries, lotteries are illegal except when conducted by governments (states in the US) and certain exempt charitable organizations. Here are key points for avoiding scam lotteries:
If you believe you have received a solicitation in the guise of a sweepstakes which is an illegal lottery, you should contact your local post office or state Attorney General's consumer protection office. But how did they get my name, if not through a lottery I entered?Names and addresses of potential victims are harvested by spyware, viruses and other tools and obtained through various trade journals, business directories, magazine and newspaper advertisements, chambers of commerce, and anywhere your name appears on the internet (such as in chat rooms, forums, etc.). They could simply use a phonebook for your country, either online or the paper variety. But it COULD be a legal lottery, right?Legitimate lotteries do NOT use email to notify their winners. In almost ALL cases, it is up to the holder of the ticket to contact the lottery. And even if these were legitimate, these lottery solicitations violate U.S. law, which prohibits the cross-border sale or purchase of lottery tickets by phone or mail. And in the United States, if it isn't run by a state government or authorized charitable organization, it can't be a legitimate lottery! Online lotteries are illegal in many other countries, too: All lotteries, including foreign lotteries operating in Great Britain, are unlawful in the UK (except those provided for by the 1976 Lotteries and Amusements Act; meaning government run lotteries). See this page for information about the UK lotteries. Note: in the UK, call the hotline at 020 7211 8111 to check or report lottery scams. Some of these lottery schemes say that the Gaming Board for Great Britain has approved them, but this is not true. The Gaming Board has a list of these companies and lotteries on its website, and warns people not to take part in them. See this page for information about the legitimate Irish Lottery, which operates in a similar manner, and has also been the victim of email scams. A lottery is a promotional device by which items of value are awarded to members of the public by chance, but which requires some form of payment to participate. Even lotteries which aren't conducted over the internet are illegal in the United States, except when conducted by states and certain exempt charitable organizations. If you believe you have received a solicitation in the guise of a sweepstakes which is an illegal lottery, you should contact your local post office or state Attorney General's consumer protection office What are lottery and prize scams?These are notifications that advise people that they have won a prize (often for a competition they didn't even enter). The notification could arrive through the mail, by email or from an unsolicited telephone call. How to spot a prize or lottery scam
A Talk With A ScammerWhat will the scammer say when you call their phone number. Click here to read a transcript of an actual call to a scammer, as we pose as one of the "winners" he's notified by email Key Tips:
What Happens If I Contact Them?Ok, we've just told you that there's NO SUCH THING as a legitimate lottery that "selected your email from a database" or a "computer ballot system"; which means these people are criminals working a con. And you still want to contact them? So, we know you probably also believe in UFO's, psychics, and the tooth fairy. Albright, let's say you do contact them; click here to see what happens. The Bottom Line: What You Need to KnowClick here for page 2; to find out what to do if you receive a lottery email. Names of Scam / Fake / Fraud LotteryClick here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies *** |
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