Although there’s always a chance of winning great prizes in lotteries, this has also increased the risk of ‘losing.’ There would be some who would con innocent victims and scam them. Fortunately, by educating yourself with the most common indications that you’re getting scammed, together with other useful tips, you’ll be able to avoid being a victim.
Here are some of those:
Never Give Your Personal Information
Most of the time, you’ll receive an email from a con artist asking you to give your personal information. This should raise a red flag, and never give your personal details, especially your banking information to people you don’t know.
Know the Rules
This has been one of the most common mistakes a lot of lottery con artists are guilty of. The terms and conditions are not clearly disclosed, and this includes the rules on how you’ll get your prize. In a legitimate lottery, you’ll never be asked to send or pay a certain amount just to get your winnings. Likewise, if you already received a check deposited into your bank account, together with a lottery letter, don’t send funds from the deposit check– wait for it to officially clear. Under the Federal Law, funds should be available in just a matter of days, and not weeks. Also, just because it’s in your account, and awaiting for local clearing, this shouldn’t make you believe that you’d actually receive the money.
Stay Away from Foreign Lotteries
Lottery scams usually victimize foreigners by offering high dollar winnings to the recipient living in another country. Keep in mind, no matter how legitimate the letter may be, the Federal Law prohibits playing foreign lottery via email or phone.
Is It Unprofessional?
A lot of lottery scammers are easy to pinpoint based on how they wrote the email, test, or letter. If it’s poorly written with a lot of typos and seem very unprofessional, then there’s no denying that it’s a lottery scam.
Call for Help
If you suspect that you have fallen for it, take action immediately. Call Western Union’s fraud hotline, and your local authorities. If you have sent funds through Wester Union and it hasn’t been paid, you can file for a refund.
Final Words
Even the smartest ones are sometimes victimized by lottery scams– simply because they get overly excited about the message they got, and it prevents them from thinking right. If you have received lottery claims of winning, don’t accept it right away. Instead, evaluate the situation first. If you have come to a conclusion that it’s too good to be true, it probably is.