Year-round, and especially now, it'd be nice to hit the jackpot. And scammers are banking on you believing you won the lottery or a sweepstakes, so you don't question their demands for money and personal data.
“I looked at it and was like, wow, I’m a winner,” said Thomas Johnson, who received a check for $450,000 and a congratulatory letter.
But as he read through it, he realized something was off.
“They were going to tell you just pay the taxes with your debit or credit card or American Express, and then, of course, they got you,” said Johnson.
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Karen Morgan, Executive Council member and lead fraud volunteer with AARP Maryland, warns you should never pay for winnings.
“No legitimate contest that legally operates in this country can require you to pay anything to win, and if it's taxes, it comes out of the supposed winnings before you ever see a dime,” said Morgan.
Maryland Lottery sent Scripps News Baltimore's Mallory Sofastaii a copy of a fake letter recently making the rounds.
The winner was told they were randomly selected from people who pay their utility bills on time, and they can claim their $7 million in winnings after paying the remaining fees of $4,000, which is change in comparison to the payout.
“These criminals are reaching thousands of people at a time, they only need to get one person to say yes,” Morgan said.
Lottery and sweepstakes scams made the top 3 frauds reported to the Federal Trade Commission last year. Consumers say they lost over $338 million.
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Publishers Clearing House is also aware of fraudsters using their name and have posted alerts all over their website.
“We don’t call ahead, we don’t tell people ahead of time, we don’t send a letter ahead of time, we show up with our big check, with our champagne and flowers to surprise our winners,” said Chris Irving, Vice President of Consumer & Legal Affairs with Publishers Clearing House.
And the biggest red flag is if you're told you won a contest you never entered.
“Was this a call out of the blue? Why did that happen? How did this lottery even get your telephone number? These are things you can think about if you step away long enough to let your logic sort of control the situation instead of your emotions,” said Morgan.
Publishers Clearing House and Maryland Lottery said they will reach out to winners of smaller prizes by certified mail, email, or phone, but keep in mind, they'll never ask you to pay money to claim prizes.
There have been several arrests in these schemes, including earlier this year. Two brothers from Maryland were accused of stealing more than $3.5 million over three years in a lottery scheme.
Click here to see the other 12 Scams of Christmas.
Maryland Lottery provided additional information regarding these scams, including other red flags:
- They ask for personal data: Do not provide your Social Security Number, banking information or other personal data.
- They ask for payment in advance: Do not make payments of "taxes" or "fees" to anyone who tells you that you have won a lottery prize. There are no "fees." If you win a large lottery prize, federal and state income taxes are withheld from the amount you won, similar to the way taxes are withheld from your paycheck. You don't pay the taxes out of your own pocket.
- They tell you that you won a contest you didn't enter: If you didn't buy a lottery ticket or enter a lottery second-chance contest, you didn't win a lottery prize. Lotteries don't award prizes through random drawings of email addresses or based on non-lottery purchases.
- They claim to represent Mega Millions or Powerball: Mega Millions and Powerball do not have "representatives" who contact people to award prizes. Prizes in those two games are won by buying tickets and matching the winning numbers that are drawn.
This story was originally published by Mallory Sofastaii at Scripps News Baltimore.
