Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
There are affiliate links on this page.
Read our disclosure policy to learn more.
Translate this page to any language by choosing a language in the box below.
If you replied to the email from a scammer who claims you won a lottery, they will write back pretty quickly. And they'll ask you how do you want to be paid? Do you want to go to their office (which will ALWAYS be a forign country to where you are. Or you can accept a courier delivered check / cheque - but now you'll have to pay fees, like delivery charge, insurance (often called "hardcover insurance", which does not exist; or other fees.
In some cases, the scammer will offer to do a direct bank deposit. Of course, you'll have to give them all the details of your bank account. That's something any criminal would love to have so they can clean out your account!
And occasionally, they will tell you that you have to set up an account at a specified bank and use it to receive the "winnings'. Of the bank is a fraud or you are creating an account for them to use and leave you with the bills and criminal charges!
Although the most important clue is that no legitimate lottery will ever email a winner, nor require a winner to pay any fees, taxes or delivery charges, there are many other signs that this is a fraud. Scroll down the page to read the emails replies from scammers below to see how "winning a lottery" turns into "you owe us money!" as the con unfolds!
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
***