Lottery scams generally follow a typical pattern, namely you receive a phone call, email or text message informing you that you have won a lottery that you never entered, but that you need to pay income taxes or administrative fees to the lottery sponsor before you can claim your prize.   One thing that all of these methods of communication have in common is that with modern technology it is a simple matter to make these communications at little cost and in vast numbers.  Therefore it was a bit of a surprise to learn about a new form of the lottery scam about which the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection recently issued a warning that involved the victims of the scam being notified by a $10 Priority Mail.  The letter itself appears to be from a legitimate lottery informing the targeted victim that he or she had won a million dollar prize as part of a charitable initiative.  Interestingly, the letter, which is easy for a scammer to create, requested the recipient to keep it a secret that he or she had won the prize for security or legal reasons

TIPS

As I have often told you, it is difficult to win a lottery you have entered.  It is impossible to win one that you have not even entered.  You should always be skeptical about being told that you have won a lottery you never entered.  No legitimate lottery will ask you to keep it a secret that you have won.  Only scammers will do that.

While it is true that income taxes are owed on lottery winnings, legitimate lotteries never collect tax money from winners.  They either deduct the taxes from the winnings or leave it up to the winners to pay their taxes directly to the IRS.  Also no legitimate lottery asks for the payment of administrative fees to receive a lottery prize.

Apparently having the scam delivered by expensive Priority Mail gives the scam an extra appearance of legitimacy that outweighs the cost to the scammer, but don’t be fooled.

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