Prize and lottery scams are scamming techniques that are extremely similar to each other. Prize scams usually begin with either an email or an internet webpage pop-up telling you that you’ve won a prize. Often times the pop-up will say “You’re the 1,000,000th visitor to this website! Click here quickly to claim your prize”. Lottery scams function in the same way. Someone will receive an email or call telling them they’ve won the lottery. The people sending you these emails often find the name of a foreign lottery company. They do this in case you search for the name of the company online. The results will show you the company exists, and that could convince you that it’s real. However, it is not.
How Does the Scammer Benefit Just from Offering a Prize?
When you’ve been offered a prize online, the “company” would need contact information and possibly credit card information in order to “send you” your prize. Prize scammers don’t always have the same motives for scamming people, but with someone’s personal information, scammers could steal your identity or gain access to a bank or credit card account.
How Can You Tell If a Prize/Lottery Winner Alert is a Scam?
It doesn’t take much work to tell that a prize or lottery offer is a scam. The key thing to remember is that if you did not purchase a lottery ticket or a ticket to win a prize, then the offer is a scam. Companies don’t give out random items and money to random people; if there is a drawing for a prize through a company, you only are eligible if you had signed up for it. When it comes to the lottery, it’s the same thing. If you get an email telling you that you won the lottery in France, it’s a scam. Unless you had gone to France and bought a lottery ticket, the lottery you’ve been informed of winning is not real.
Other signs that you should look out for to identify prize and lottery scams are:
1) When you are told you won a contest or lottery that you didn’t sign up for.
2) When you are asked to give out bank or credit card information to claim your prize.
3) When you are asked to give personal information about yourself to prove you are the person who won the prize.
4) When the sender tells you that the offer is completely real and completely legal.
If you see any of these signs in the message you’ve received, it is probably a scam.
What Can I Do to Protect Myself From Prize and Lottery Scams?
The first and best way to protect yourself against prize and lottery scams is by immediately delete any emails you receive about winning the prize without opening them. This ensures that absolutely no virus or software bug enters your computer from the email, and that the sender receives no additional information about you.
However, if you mistakenly open one of these emails, all hope is not lost. Other tips that you should remember to protect yourself are:
1) Don’t reply to the email, or click on any links in the email.
2) Don’t call any phone numbers that are given to you in the email. Sometimes phone numbers that cost an extreme amount of money per call per minute are given.
3) Even if you accidentally open the email, still delete it immediately.
If you find that you are a victim of prize or lottery scams, call your local authorities and report it. These, like many other scams, are against the law.