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Sweepstakes and Foreign Lotteries
False Promises
Lured by promises of easy odds or guaranteed payouts, Americans spend more than $120 million a year entering foreign lotteries from countries all over the world.2 Though lottery scams were common long before the rise of the Internet, email has dramatically increased the ability of scammers to promote their unscrupulous offers. Even though federal law prohibits the cross border sale or purchase of lottery tickets, many victims pay up anyway because they think they're buying into a huge pool of tickets or believe what they read about a "fool proof system.” Many scammers never buy a single ticket with the entry money they receive, and those that do are still breaking the law.
Advance Fees
Victims receive emails claiming they have won prizes in contests that they have never entered, but to receive their windfall they need to pay "processing fees," "taxes" or some other bogus charge. You may have seen emails claiming to be advertising contests sponsored by Microsoft or Coca-Cola. They've been circulating in recent years.
Phishing for Account Numbers
Instead of (or sometimes in addition to) asking for a "processing fee" or phony tax payment some lottery scammers want your account number and routing number so they can deposit your "jackpot." Just like in other phishing scams the emails can look very real or appear to be sponsored by familiar agencies or corporations. Unfortunately, if you hand over banking data you'll get hit with a huge withdrawal rather than a deposit.
- Consumer Sentinel, 2007
- U.S. Postal Inspection Service, FTC Consumer Alert: International Lottery Scams