Lottery Scams

Scams

Lotteries are attractive to scammers because the huge sums of money involved can often cloud their victims' judgement. Fraudsters will contact members of the public via phone, email, SMS or by post and claim that they have won a lottery jackpot, often asking for upfront fees for 'processing' or taxes in order to transfer the prize. On other occasions the recipient of the communication will be asked to provide bank details or other personal information which can then be used to facilitate identity theft.

– Honest, Fair and Committed to Fighting Scams

Knowledge is your greatest asset in the fight against fraudulent activity. If you know about the tricks that scammers use to siphon away money from victims, you can prevent yourself from becoming a victim as well. Here are some important things to remember:

• You can never win a lottery, raffle or sweepstake prize if you didn't enter the competition. The only way to win a Free Lottery prize is to enter the Daily or Weekly Draws that we offer to registered participants.
• We'll never ask you to pay an upfront fee or pay the taxes on your winnings in order to collect them. Taxes are your responsibility if you win a prize.
• If you think you've won a Free Lottery prize, you'll need to get in touch with the site in order to start the claims process. Anyone who contacts you out of the blue with news of a big lottery win is probably trying to scam you.

Common Traits of Lottery Scams

• If the communication has been sent from anything other than that lottery's official email address then be very wary. Lotteries do not use free webmail addresses like Hotmail and Gmail to contact users. Any correspondence you receive from will have a "@" email address in the sender field..
• Often the scams require a response within a certain amount of time. This is in order to pressure victims into sending money or personal details before they have a chance to seek advice or investigate the validity of the mail. will never ask you for money or "fees" to cover the release of any prize you might win.
• For similar reasons scammers may request confidentiality as a requirement for paying out the 'prize'. Real lotteries like love to celebrate their winners and give them their moment in the sun – anyone who asks you to keep quiet about a win should be treated with suspicion.
• Fraudulent correspondence can usually be identified through the poor spelling, grammar and syntax of its content.
• Scammers are notoriously vague about how the "process" works. They always have another lie, another fee to pay and another excuse to feed their victim. is an honest company that prides itself on ensuring that every entrant understands how our draws and prizes work.

What to Do if You Have Received a Lottery Scam

If you have received what appears to be a fraudulent text, email, letter or phone call then there are a few simple steps that you should follow:

• Don't send money.
• Don't follow any links or open any attachments in emails.
• Don't respond, you'll just encourage more scam mail.
• Don't disclose any personal or banking details.
• Break off all contact with the scammer in question. Block the phone numbers or email addresses they use and mark all post as "return to sender".

If you have already made contact with a suspected fraudster then break off all communication immediately and alert your bank straight away if you have passed on any financial or personal details.