How lottery scams work

Scams involving lotteries and fake winnings

Lotteries around the world, and the SuperEnalotto is no exception, promise huge jackpots and other substantial secondary prizes, which many players hope to win. Very often, scams related to these lotteries occur, created by dishonest individuals or companies who try to make potential victims believe they have won a large prize.

The methods used to carry out a scam vary, with the main ones being: email, regular mail, and telephone.

• Contact via email

  The victim receives an email making them believe they have won a large lottery prize. Obviously, this type of scam is designed to make the recipient think the message comes from an official source. The email asks the potential victim to follow a simple procedure, which involves sending personal details and banking information to claim the prize, and then asking them to pay an administrative fee to cover processing costs. These details allow the scammers to steal sensitive information and the victim’s money.

• Contact via regular mail

  Scams via regular mail are still very common. As with email, the potential victim receives a letter making them believe they have won a lottery prize. Again, the goal is to lower the recipient’s defenses to obtain personal information. The letter asks them to respond with personal and banking details and to pay administrative fees so the prize can be credited. Naturally, this will not happen.

• Telephone contact

  In this case, the scammer calls the potential victim, pretending to be an agent from the official lottery, announcing a large prize, and hoping the victim will fall for the trap and provide personal and banking information. The fake agent claims that the information is needed to process the prize, but in reality, it is only to extort money from the victim.

Usually, though not always, these types of scams involve a lottery from another country, for several reasons: because it is harder to verify the information and the identity of the person or company behind it; because this justifies the presence of an intermediary and a request for money to credit the prize; and finally, because if it were an Italian lottery prize, the winner would go to a local retailer or the official prize offices to claim it.

How to act in case of a scam attempt

If someone tries to contact you by email, regular mail, or phone, claiming that you have won the lottery, remember that:

• You cannot win a lottery if you have not purchased a ticket for that specific lottery. Also, the ticket or slip purchased is only valid for the draw it was bought for.
• If you have truly won a lottery, there are no administrative fees to pay to claim the prize. Once the claim is submitted, the office in charge credits the prize according to the chosen method, after any applicable taxes.

The best course of action in these cases is never to provide the requested information, and to delete any emails or letters received.