I should be the luckiest person alive. In the past three days I discovered I won 1.5 Million Euros in the UK lotto, One Million Euros in the Winx International Lottery, 1.5 Million Euros in the 2007 Email Lottery, and 500,000 Pounds in an e-mail lottery game held by the Coca Soda Company. Wow! What did I do to receive all these riches?
The sad reality exists are really people who succumb to these schemes. For the guarantee of a fast buck (or million Euros as the case might be) people will turn over their bank account numbers, wire loan in the hopes of getting more back, or offer other details that might cause identity theft.
These lotto and sweepstakes schemes have gone on long prior to the internet, with one of the earliest being the phony sweepstakes which required an entryway fee to claim your reward, which totaled up to more than the "reward" deserved. Another variation of that plan was requiring the prospective "winner" to call a specific number to discover if he or she was a winner. The phone call cost the possible "winner" a specific amount per minute with an unusually-long wait time on hold. The real winner was the scamming business makinged loan off the phone calls.
Today's thieves have a wide choice of scam-delivery systems, including in person, the web, phone and mail. However, the exact same is true no matter how the fraud is provided: if it sounds too excellent to be true, it is.
How Can You Recognize the Lottery or Sweepstakes Fraud?
There are definitely legitimate lottos and sweepstakes deals. Who hasn't purchased a state or multi-state lotto ticket from their local lottery game seller?
Therein is your biggest idea regarding whether you're the victim of a scam. In a legitimate lottery game or sweepstakes you have actually bought the ticket or entered your name and address. In a fraud lotto or sweepstakes you are informed you've won when you haven't even gotten in or bought a ticket.
In addition, it's unlawful to utilize the mail or telephone to play lotteries across borders, whether nationwide or state lines. Any lotto offer involving the purchase of lottery game tickets for other state or country lottos could wind up with you being charged with illegal activities.
One ploy utilized by foreign fraudsters including lottos or sweepstakes is offering you an "advance" on your payouts. The scam artist will send you a Why not give this a try? check for part of your "jackpots." All you need to do is wire them payment for "taxes" or other main purposes. By the time you discover their check has bounced the money you wired is in their hands. And, since it was wired it's harder to trace.
Lottery game fraudsters don't always utilize email or the phone. In some cases they do their dirty work in person. A normal fraud would go something like this: You are approached personally by someone who declares he or she simply won the lotto but isn't really eligible to declare it. If you declare the prize, they offer to split the money with you. Sounds great? Except that before you declare the prize from the lottery game seller you are required to withdraw some cash from your account and give it to the ticket holder as a good-faith gesture. By the time you discover you're holding a non-winning lottery ticket, the thief is long-gone with your good-faith loan.
In order to secure yourself from these scams, it's important to keep in mind the following:
Lotteries
• It's illegal to use the mail or telephone to play lottos throughout borders.
• If you ever get a phone call, letter or e-mail get redirected here revealing you just won a lottery, it's a scam.
Sweepstakes
• It's unlawful for a company to require you to pay to claim a sweepstakes or win reward.
• It's illegal for a company to suggest that purchasing something will enhance your opportunities of winning.
• Business can not request money from you for taxes they say you owe on a sweepstakes winning.
When going into sweepstakes from displays you see in malls-- typically times these are people just desiring your name and address for a future sweepstakes fraud, • Be cautious.
• Just go into sweepstakes from recognizable business, and never pay a cost to go into.
Preventing being the victim of a fraud takes a healthy dose of uncertainty. You can call the National Scams Information Center's Hotline at 1-800-876-7060 if you are ever uncertain about the legitimacy of an offer made to you.
In the previous three days I discovered out I won 1.5 Million Euros in the UK lottery, One Million Euros in the Winx International Lotto, 1.5 Million Euros in the 2007 Email Lottery, and 500,000 Pounds in an e-mail lottery game held by the Coca Cola Company. These lottery game and sweepstakes schemes have gone on long prior to the web, with one of the oldest being the fake sweepstakes which needed an entrance cost to claim your reward, which amounted to more than the "prize" was worth. Who hasn't bought a state or multi-state lotto ticket from their regional lottery retailer? In a legitimate lottery game or sweepstakes you have bought the ticket or entered your name and address. In a scam lotto or sweepstakes you are informed you've won when you have not even gone into or purchased a ticket.