Lottery Scams
Being a lottery enthusiast can sometimes be risky as it puts you on the spot for con artists who might try to scam you. A lottery scam is a type of fraud in which con artists pretend to represent lottery officials in order to extract money from victims.
Discover the different types of scams, learn how they work, and see how you could actively avoid falling a victim to lottery scams.
Types of Scams
Email - this is one of the most common types of scams and it's very likely that you may come across it. In this case, con artists usually send an email letting you know that you have won a prize. They either include a link to a site which contains malware, giving the fraudster access to your device, or they ask for personal information in order to start the claiming process.
Post - in this case, fraudsters send you a letter claiming that you have won a prize or they try to get you to purchase tickets at a suspiciously low price.
Social Media - con artists would often pretend that they are one of the lottery's big winners and claim they would like to share their winnings. You will be tagged in a post or receive a message saying that you have been randomly selected as one of the lucky ones who will get a portion of the "winner's" prize. They will most likely ask for personal information or get you to click a link containing malware.
Phone Scams - someone claiming to be a lottery official will call to inform you that you have won a prize. You must remember that you have not bought a ticket, you can't possibly win a prize. Do not provide any personal information such as your bank details, address, full name etc. Although official operators like The Lott and LotteryWest get in touch with winners by phone, they only contact registered members (who have already submitted their contact details) who purchased a ticket using their lottery card. They would never ask you for money in return for claiming your prize.
Not Too Sure?
If you're not sure whether you're speaking with a scammer, hang up and contact the official lottery yourself.
Lottery Scams Clues
Here are some clues to look out for that might help you easily recognise a scam.
Received an email? Make sure it's come from an official account and not from a free mail service like Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail.
Not addressed by your name? If it starts with a general greeting (like 'Dear Winner') and it doesn't have your full name, it's very likely that it's a scam.
Pay attention to grammar! More often than not, scam messages or emails have poor spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax.
Branding matters! Make sure the logos are the official recognisable ones. Scams usually have their logos skewed or stretched.
Why the rush? Scammers usually try to get you to respond as quickly as possible or set deadlines for you to claim your 'prize'. They do this in order to rush you into acting without thinking twice or to prevent you from sharing the news with anyone who might notice it's a scam.
How to Protect Yourself from Scams
You should try being vigilant and recognise some of the clues we talked about in the section above. If something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Always remember if you bought a ticket for the relevant game as you can never win a prize unless you took part in that specific game.
Never share your bank account details as the scammers will try to extract money from your account. Moreover, do not provide other personal information such as your home address, your email, your phone numbers or your full name. These would only open more windows for fraudsters, giving them more ways to try to scam you. If you do give them your bank details, you must contact your bank immediately so they can block your account.
Do not open any suspicious links, received either by email or text message.
If you believe you have fallen victim to a scam or if you almost did, you can report lottery scams to your local office of Fair Trading or the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).