Lottery Scams


Like other "too good to be true" scams, lottery scams offer the victim great wealth in exchange for paying taxes and other processing fees up-front. In lottery scams, scammers generally send an e-mail, fax, or letter to potential victims announcing that they have won a foreign lottery. The "winner" need only provide personal bank account information and pay a few fees up-front to collect his or her substantial winnings. 

What to Watch Out For

1. If you did not purchase a lottery ticket in this foreign country, it is questionable how you can win a prize.
2. The primary methods of distribution for this scam are through the Internet, mail, or by fax. Legitimate government-run lotteries normally choose television, radio, or newspapers to advertise.
3. Many of the prize letters state the deadline to claim the prize will soon to expire.
4. No legitimate lottery requests advance fees.
5. Characteristically, written notices contain frequent spelling and grammar mistakes or awkward wording.
6. The written notice may come from a free e-mail account like Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail.
7. You may be told to keep your winnings confidential "for security reasons."

How to Protect Yourself and Your Assets

DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY! Participation in a foreign lottery through the mail or over the phone violates U.S. federal law. Furthermore, it will be essentially impossible to recover any money you send to a fraudulent operation.

DO NOT GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFORMATION! Keep all bank and credit card information to yourself as it can make you vulnerable to fraudulent use of your accounts or identity theft.

DO NOT RESPOND! Simply corresponding with the operators of a scam increases your chances of receiving similar offers. 

If you receive lottery material from a foreign country you can turn it over to your local postmaster.

Victims of this scam should see our brochure on Reporting Scams.

Lottery scams can originate anywhere in the world, but the examples below are some of the most common versions.

Spanish Lottery Scam

The United States Embassy in Madrid, the United States Consulate General in Barcelona, and the Office of Overseas Citizens Services at the U. S. Department of State receive frequent inquiries about the Spanish Lottery (sometimes referred to as “El Gordo”). Most inquiries result in complaints from a scam in which purported Spanish lottery officials inform victims they have won a large cash prize.

How the Spanish Lottery scam works

There is a general pattern among the scams. First, the victim receives an “award confirmation” through fax or email informing them they have won a large amount of money in a Spanish lottery drawing. “Due to a clerical error” or some other sort of mix-up, winners are asked to keep their prize confidential until the winnings are released to them. Most times, there is a deadline to claim the money. Once the “transfer process” begins, the victim is informed of various delays requiring the payment of transfer fees, taxes, anti-terror fees, insurance fees, claims agent fees, and other administrative costs that they must pay before the prize can officially be collected. The scam runs under many different seemingly official names such as “El Gordo Sweepstakes Lottery” or even actual lottery names such as “Once.”

How the real Spanish lottery system works

Two of the most common legitimate Spanish lotteries are “El Gordo,” one of the largest lottery drawings in the world, and “La Primitiva.” They are lotteries, not sweepstakes, and are a part of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, meaning that they are government endorsed. While some lotteries are drawn weekly, “El Gordo” is only drawn one time per year during the Christmas season. The Spanish lottery does not tax any of its prizes.

To enter and win “El Gordo,” you must be a resident of Spain and purchase your ticket within the country. Keep in mind YOU CANNOT WIN IF YOU DID NOT BUY A TICKET! You must purchase your entry to the drawing in Spain to win. It is against U.S. federal law to play a foreign lottery through the mail or over the phone.

Who to Contact

If you have been a victim of this or any other type of advance fee scam, contact the authorities.  If you are in Spain, you can file an official police report with the Spanish police and contact the U.S. Embassy in Madrid or the U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona at:

Madrid
Tel: [34] 91-587-2240
Fax: [34] 91-287-2243

Barcelona
Tel: [34] 93-280-2227 ext. 207 or 272
Fax: [34] 93-280-6175

You should also provide information to the Spanish Embassy in the United States.

Example: Spanish Lottery Scam Solicitation

Dear Sir,

According to our discussion regading the retrevition of the fund, please endavour to demand of your bank to look into the transfer process to verify:

1. The position of the money
2. If the fund is still laying in the bank where transferred
3. The statement of the account

I will be glad to hear from you as soon as the investigation is made.

Thanks and remain bless

Sincere,
Juan David

 

South Africa World Cup Lottery Scam

Victims of the South Africa World Cup scam generally receive an e-mail message announcing they have won the "2010 World Cup Lottery." While the 2010 World Cup will really take place in South Africa, written notices announcing that you have won the World Cup lottery are a scam.

Example: World Cup Lottery solicitation: (Note: The different font colors are displayed as they might appear in a sample lottery scam letter).

THIS MESSAGE IS FROM THE PROMOTION MANAGER, INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT

PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the announcement made for the winners of the SOUTH AFRICAN 2010 WORLD CUP BID INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD PROGRAMS, as part of our promotional draws.

Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from all part of the world as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.

YOU HAVE WON THE SUM OF US$ 2 million us dollars

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$2,000,000.00 in cash, which is the winning payout for Second category winners. This is from the total prize money of US$26,000,000.00 shared among the thirteen(13) international winners in the Second category.

Please be informed that your CHECK in the sum of US$2,000,000.00 is now in the wire system bank account insured with your email address together with your winning details which won you this prize, therefore you should contact your agent and give them your full names so that they will remit your winning fund to your bank account directly in any country of your choice.

FOREIGN SERVICE MANAGER,
JOHANNESBURG 2001
SOUTH AFRICA

 

Updated on August 5, 2009