{"id":1941,"date":"2023-10-15T09:02:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-15T09:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/finance\/youve-won-the-lottery-well-definitely-not-since-its-a-scam-heres-how-you-avoid-the-swindles\/"},"modified":"2023-10-15T09:02:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-15T09:02:12","slug":"youve-won-the-lottery-well-definitely-not-since-its-a-scam-heres-how-you-avoid-the-swindles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infundpros.com\/?p=1941","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019ve Won The Lottery! Well, Definitely Not, Since It\u2019s A Scam \u2014 Here\u2019s How You Avoid The Swindles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>I received an email the other day saying that I won a gift certificate from a sporting goods store. I was hoping for the lottery, but I knew it was a scam. I often get fake lottery emails, but this one was a play on that theme.<\/p>\n<p>Any subject line with \u201cYou\u2019ve Won!\u201d should be deleted. It maybe the oldest swindle I can imagine, but it\u2019s gotten fresh life with robo-emails and texts.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Cybercrime Support Network (CSN), \u201cover the last 3 years, the Better Business Bureau reported that more than 460,000 Americans have reported losing more than $330 million to lottery-related scams. As a result, it\u2019s easy to assume that lottery scams are becoming increasingly common.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the seemingly obvious signs of a scam, hundreds of thousands are still swindled. There are plenty of red flares, which are surprisingly ignored since the desire to win money often overrules common sense. This is what the CSN found:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The scammer will claim that you have won a large sum of money, often in the millions of dollars. They may even say that you have won a jackpot. If you\u2019ve won the lottery, you won\u2019t get a text.<\/li>\n<li>The scammer will usually ask for your<em> bank account<\/em> details so they can deposit the money into your account. They may also ask for your credit card number so they can deduct \u201cprocessing fees.\u201d This is the key part of the scam: What they are stealing is your financial information. Real lotteries don\u2019t charge processing fees. Scamsters are \u201cphishing\u201d for valuable information they can steal and sell to other fraud merchants, often on the \u201cdark\u201d web.<\/li>\n<li>The scammer will insist that you send money to cover taxes or fees to claim your prize. They may even say that the government requires these fees to be paid before you can receive your prize. You\u2019ll owe taxes if you win, but won\u2019t have to pay them upfront. Chances are high, however, that you have won nothing.<\/li>\n<li>The scammer will often use high-pressure tactics to get you to pay, such as saying that the prize will be forfeited if you do not pay the fees immediately. They want their bogus fee or your information and will lean on you to get it. That\u2019s another red flag.<\/li>\n<li>Did you actually buy a ticket? If someone says you have won a lottery but you didn\u2019t buy a ticket, it\u2019s a scam. If you are in an area outside the market area of the lottery noted as the source of the \u201cprize,\u201d then it is a fraud. Legitimate lotteries do not hold \u201cinternational\u201d sweepstakes, contests or awards for people who live outside their jurisdiction. So ignore that big winning from a European lottery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><fbs-ad position=\"inread\" progressive=\"\" ad-id=\"article-0-inread\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><\/fbs-ad><\/p>\n<p>Any \u201coffer\u201d that involves you providing payment or financial information is a scam. Also be wary of any solicitation that uses the logo and name of an actual lottery such as \u201cMega Millions.\u201d According to this lottery, \u201cno representative of Mega Millions would ever call, text, or e-mail anyone about winning a prize.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scammers will also use names like \u201cUnited States National Lottery,\u201d \u201cMega Millions Mobile Lottery,\u201d &#8220;USA UK Mega Millions Lottery,&#8221; \u201cMega Millions Corporation\u201d or \u201cMega Millions International Lottery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe life-changing winnings,\u201d the CSN warns, \u201cwould trick any unsuspecting person into not only believing the news but also giving scammers the necessary information to trick people out of their money.\u201d Sometimes when you win (falsely), you lose.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/johnwasik\/2023\/10\/10\/youve-won-the-lottery-well-definitely-not-since-its-a-scam---heres-how-you-avoid-the-swindles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I received an email the other day saying that I won a gift certificate from a sporting goods store. I was hoping&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finance"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>You\u2019ve Won The Lottery! Well, Definitely Not, Since It\u2019s A Scam \u2014 Here\u2019s How You Avoid The Swindles | inFundPros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I received an email the other day saying that I won a gift certificate from a sporting goods store. 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