Gambling Questions: Lottery Scams

Question:
An organisation has emailed or written to me to tell me that I have won a prize in a lottery. Could it be real, even if I didn’t enter myself into the lottery or prize draw? What action should I take?

Answer:
It is a fraud, and you should delete the email or bin the letter (or even better, recycle it!). Never send any money or personal details to an organisation which claims that you have won a prize or anything else in a lottery or raffle that you have not entered. If you aren’t in it, you can’t win it - it is as simple as that.

Usually these scams work by asking you to pay a ‘fee’ before the so-called ‘prize money’ can be released to you: suffice to say, you should never send any fees - if you really have won a prize there should be absolutely no need for you to send money to claim it.

You may be contacted by an organisation which assures you that no fee needs to be paid - they just need to know your bank account details so that they can pay you. Again, never send your details out to such an organisation. Many fraudsters are aiming to steal identities from their unsuspecting victims. Never release personal information such as your passport number, home address, telephone number or banking details to anyone you don’t know.

You should also bear in mind that in the case of emailed ‘win notifications’, the email itself may contain hyperlinks to websites purporting to act for the lottery organisers. Taking the form of financial institutions (insurance companies and the like), the management of ‘lottery’ funds will appear as only a small part of their wider organisation, which appears to give the email credibility. They may seem very slick and professional at first sight, but the chances are that these websites have simply been copied from genuine organisations. You may have to look hard to tell the difference between such a “phishing” site and a reputable site - but the key point to remember is just because a site looks professional, that does not mean the company behind the web site can be trusted. Always look for an “about us” page, and check the information there stacks up. Be particularly suspicious of mobile telephone numbers on any “contact us” page. You may also find on closer inspection that some text is inconsistent (it is often the result of a “cut and paste” from other sites), and that there are mistakes in spelling and grammar.

These scams all rely on the victim fearing that by mistrusting the ‘win notification’ they will ‘miss out’ on a huge prize. It is all too tempting to wonder ‘but what if it is true, and I blow my one big chance at winning a fortune?’. The chances of winning a fortune are always slim, but they are none existent if you have not actually entered a lottery in the first place!  Play a reputable lottery, or join a reputable online casino with a “progressive jackpot” slot machine if you want to stand a chance at winning big prizes for small stakes. See our guide on how to play fruit machines online if the latter option appeals.