Lottery Fraud or Sweepstakes Scams

Lottery fraud and sweepstakes scams are on the rise, and they seek to prey on individuals who are least prepared to refuse the offer of big dollars or valuable prizes. These scams can be very convincing, causing victims to feel betrayed and financially ruined. If you are a victim of lottery fraud or a sweepstakes scam, it’s essential that you quickly act in reporting the crime. By providing what you know, you can be of assistance to law enforcement agencies — including FBI — in identifying the perpetrators and preventing others from such harm.

Detecting Lottery Fraud and Sweepstakes Scams

Lottery fraud and sweepstakes scams generally include unsolicited messages or calls stating you’ve won a huge sum of money or a high-value prize. Fraudsters might pretend to be someone from the organizations behind the best-known lotteries, businesses or charities in an attempt to make their claims appear legitimate. They frequently request a “processing fee,” “tax payment” or other types of prepayment that they’ll convince you is essential to freeing your prize. In reality, there is no prize, and the money you send is lost forever.

Sometimes these scams can be very sophisticated, using official-looking documents, fake websites and other methods to seem legitimate. It could be a text message, email, phone call or even a message through a social media app from the fraudsters contacting you. Sometimes, they could ask you for personal information, like your bank account information, which they themselves can use to commit further fraud.

What to Do If You’ve Been Scammed

If you’ve lost money to a lottery or sweepstakes scam, it’s important to collect as much information as possible about what happened. This is critical information law enforcement can use to investigate or recover your funds. Here’s what you should do:

  • Document Everything: If you are reading this and did not realize you were being conned: Take notes. These can be emails, text messages, call logs, and any documents they’ve shared with you. The more granular your records, the better.
  • Identify the scammer: If you can, jot down the scammer’s email address, phone number, social media profiles and any other contact information they used to communicate with you.
  • Whip Up Your Losses: Figure out the precise dollar amount you lost to the scam. Do include a record of the payments made such as the method of payment (wire transfer; gift cards; etc.) and the dates the transactions were made.
  • Report the Scam: Email us the details. To help you out effectively, we need the following information:
    • Your Name: We want to identify you in our records by your full name.
    • Your Contact Information: our phone number and email address so we can get in touch with you if necessary.
    • Details of the Scam: Enter the scammer’s email address, phone number, and any other contact details you possess.
    • Date of Loss: Provide the date when you lost money, the amount you lost, any relevant transaction details.
    • Brief Description: Write a summary of the scam, including the promises of the scammer and their actions that led you to be scammed.

Why Your Information Matters

Reporting the scam and the specifics allows for a more complete picture to be developed for agencies such as the FBI who are trusted to help combat this type of criminal activity. This information is crucial for identifying patterns, charging up scammers, and recovering stolen funds. Although recovery of lost money isn’t a sure thing, reporting the crime is an important step to help prevent other people from being taken in by similar schemes.

Your cooperation can go a long way in helping lottery fraud and sweepstakes scammers out of business. By taking action you’re not only helping your individual case but also helping the bigger picture to go after these criminals and prevent others from being duped.

If you’ve been victimized, don’t wait — send us an email now, with all your information, and we will pass it along to the FBI. We all work together to hold these scammers to account. Email to, service@winthelottery.com