It would amaze the general public just to how much money is actually stolen from susceptible people every year through these clever lottery cons. It is a known fact that so many people are still unnecessarily falling prey to a scam that has been around for well over a decade now. These scams have nothing to do with the actual lottery or any other valid lottery games that are played around the world. It is even uncertain as to the exact figures of whom and how much as many people are too embarrassed to report that they have become victims to the scam.
The scam is well known to many people and the recipient will be informed via either email or letter that they have won a huge amount in a lottery. The scams usually ask for the notification to be kept confidential. The ‘winner’ will be asked to contact a claims agent who will confirm the win to them and it will all seem like they really have won a massive prize. The agent will then ask for a payment of money in order to expedite the claim and this will be explained as processing and bank transfer fees. You do have to be very careful though as some of these scams will infact have a legitimate lottery name.
There are some simple rules to follow to help you spot one of these potential lottery scams.
• If you haven’t bought a ticket then you will not have won! There are no such things as free draws where no tickets have been sold.
• A real lottery would never ask you to pay any money in order to process your winning claim. The law is very strict and it is illegal for a true lottery company to charge a fee to receive winnings. Please remember that if they are asking you for any sort of money they are not legitimate.
• Check the email address of the sender. If it is coming from a free email account such as hotmail or gmail then it is a scam.
The British government plans to launch an awareness campaign to highlight that these scams are false and should not be entertained. There are plans in the making to introduce new ’scambuster’ groups in the hope that they will be able to help some of the individuals who have unfortunately fallen prey to the lottery scammers.
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