The information given below shows that any approach of this kind, however well written or enticingly presented, is simply an attempt to defraud you. View the Scams page for more information about different types of EuroMillions scams. Congratulations, you have been selected as the recipient of a winning prize in the Euromillions International Global Sweepstakes [3] from day 20th January Your prize pay out is on the condition that your identity is confirmed following our internal security checks.
You may also learn that you have won a promotional prize from a company whose name is well known, such as BMW or Coca-Cola. Some of these offers sound convincing because you recognise the name of the company. If you receive emails that appear to bee impersonating a known company, it is a good practice to forward the email to that company to let them know that they are being impersonated. Most of the scams directed at UK residents originate outside of the country, even though they may provide a UK address for contact.
Most of the time, there is no prize whatsoever, and once you have sent your money out of the country it cannot be recovered. If you provide your name, address and phone number, you have just given the fraudsters everything they need to use your credit card online.
In the next step they usually ask you to pay a small processing fee via credit card so that they can get the card number. They make the fee extremely small so people will think nothing of paying it, not realising that it is not the money but the card number that the scammers want.
In the rare cases when there is a real prize, it is usually worthless, overpriced or misleadingly described and worth much less than the fee that you paid. You can protect yourself against unsolicited lottery scams by remembering that you should never have to pay money to receive a prize that you have won. Also remember that you cannot win a contest that you did not enter. The fraudsters usually claim that they selected you at random, but this is completely false; no legitimate contest in the world selects its entrants this way.
Do not enter any sweepstakes from foreign countries, or any contests unless they are from a company that you know well. Many UK citizens have sent thousands of pounds in response to unsolicited telephone calls that they have received regarding fraudulent Canadian lotteries. These lotteries are nonexistent, and the people will never get anything in return for the money that they have paid out. All Canadian lotteries are government-run and can only be claimed by citizens of Canada.
Under no circumstances would they ever pay prizes to people located outside of Canada. Knowing this can protect you from this particular scam. Officials from the El Gordo lottery have sent out a warning regarding scammers that have used the so called Spanish lottery, for fraudulent purposes. They have even gone so far as to forge bank forms and other documents in order to fraudulently receive money. Loterias y Apuestas de Estado. People across the UK have been receiving emails and letters stating that they are Spanish lottery winners.
They are also informed that a percentage of the money that they have won will be held to cover expenses. Those who are unfortunate enough to have sent money will never receive any sort of prize. Authentic Spanish lotteries have tax-free prizes. There was a form enclosed to fill in with all personal details and bank details.
They most commonly come in the form of letters, emails, or phone calls, but fraudsters are constantly devising new ways of delivering them. Whichever method is used, the scams will claim that either you, your mobile number, or your email address has been 'randomly selected' to win a prize.
Some of them may send a communication informing you of a win from a made-up lottery that uses famous brand names in an attempt to make it sound more legitimate. An example of this is the Google Online Sweepstakes, which has been cited in some scams and is definitely not a real lottery. The format of these scams may vary but the aim is always the same: to persuade you to pay a processing fee or taxes in order to claim your fictitious prize, or for you to provide personal information which may then be used for identity theft.
Some scammers also sell fake lottery tickets, usually over the phone. Targets are encouraged to pay for their entries up front, but the tickets never materialise. You should only ever buy lottery tickets from trusted websites or retailers, and never from unknown sources. If you play online, you may receive a legitimate email notifying you of a genuine win, but this will always come from the same provider that you used to take part.
If your suspicions are raised by a phone call, letter, SMS message or email you have received, the following information will be useful. All of the points listed below are usually a good indication that the winning notification you have received is a scam:. If you receive a letter or email which claims that you have won a EuroMillions prize, raffle, sweepstake or competition that you have not entered, it is strongly recommend that you:. Whilst law enforcement agencies worldwide are working hard to identify lottery scams and bring their perpetrators to justice, the best way to avoid becoming a victim is to remain vigilant.
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