Full Notification

Lottery Scams - How to Recognize Them
"Congratulations!
You may receive a certified check for up to $400,000 U.S. CASH!
One Lump sum! Tax free! Your odds to WIN are 1-6."

"Hundreds of U.S. citizens win every week using our secret system!
You can win as much as you want!"
Sound great? It's a fraud.

Scam operators — often based in the Netherlands, Canada and Nigeria— are using the telephone and direct mail to entice U.S. (and other global) consumers to buy chances in high-stakes foreign lotteries from as far away as Australia and Europe.

There are several different types of lottery scams:

A lottery notifies you (email, mail or phone) that you won*, or
You go to a lottery website, or by phone or mail to "play" / buy a ticket, or
You buy a "program" of "secrets" on how to win lotteries.
Green card (immigration VISA) lottery
Sweepstakes scams (Sweepstakes are not actually a lottery, but are often confused with them)

* Remember, no legitimate lottery will EVER notify you that you won. They don't work that way!
What is a Lottery?

Unlike a sweepstakes, a lottery is a promotional device by which items of value (prizes) are awarded to members of the public by chance, but which requires some form of payment to participate. In other words, if you did not buy a ticket, YOU COULD NOT HAVE WON a lottery - no matter what anyone tells you!

Lotteries in the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain, and most developed countries, are illegal, except when conducted by states and certain exempt licensed charitable organizations. If you believe you have received a solicitation in the guise of a sweepstakes which is an illegal lottery, you should contact your local Post Office™ or state Attorney General’s consumer protection office
How does a lottery scam work?

Victims typically are notified they have won a lottery, yet have to pay transfer fees, taxes or provide proof of their identity and/or details of their bank accounts or credit cards in order to receive the "winnings". The names of these organizations change all the time (they just make up a new name when one is exposed as a fraud), although many of the notifications use similar wording.

A lottery is a promotional device by which items of value are awarded to members of the public by chance, but which requires some form of payment to participate. In the United States and most developed countries, lotteries are illegal except when conducted by governments (states in the US) and certain exempt charitable organizations.

Here are key points for avoiding scam lotteries:

You cannot win a legitimate lottery if you have not entered it.

In almost all cases you must purchase a ticket to enter a legitimate lottery.

You never have to pay to collect winnings from a legitimate lottery. You pay taxes AFTER you you receive the winnings. There are no other fees.

If you hold a winning lottery ticket, you notify the lottery (they do not notify you; not by email, not by phone, not by mail).

It is illegal under U.S. federal law to play ANY foreign lottery from the United States. Many other countries have similar laws. for example, you must be a Spanish resident to play the El Gordo lottery.

Since scammers simply invent new names for their fake email scam (the email is the scam, not any persons or companies named in the email)s, it is more accurate to say that if you do not see the lottery on the list of legitimate lotteries, it is probably a scam.
If it isn't conducted by a government or government-authorized charitable organization, it can't be a legitimate lottery

If you believe you have received a solicitation in the guise of a sweepstakes which is an illegal lottery, you should contact your local post office or state Attorney General's consumer protection office.
But how did they get my name, if not through a lottery I entered?

Names and addresses of potential victims are harvested by spyware, viruses and other tools and obtained through various trade journals, business directories, magazine and newspaper advertisements, chambers of commerce, and anywhere your name appears on the internet (such as in chat rooms, forums, etc.). They could simply use a phonebook for your country, either online or the paper variety.
But it COULD be a legal lottery, right?

Legitimate lotteries do NOT use email to notify their winners. In almost ALL cases, it is up to the holder of the ticket to contact the lottery. And even if these were legitimate, these lottery solicitations violate U.S. law, which prohibits the cross-border sale or purchase of lottery tickets by phone or mail. And in the United States, if it isn't run by a state government or authorized charitable organization, it can't be a legitimate lottery!

If you feel that you have been a victim of this scam contact your local police department.

http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/lotteries.php

Brigantine Residents contact Detective Frank Hewitt at 609-266-7414.