We all daydream about receiving millions out of the blue. Think of all the things you can do if you suddenly won a jackpot. Now imagine that one day you receive an email that tells you just that – You’ve won the lottery! Wouldn’t that be amazing! Why, all your dreams would come true! This is wishful thinking that lies in many people and fraudsters have found a way to exploit it with lottery winnings scams.

The Money Back Experts team has dealt with so many schemes of this type and we want to proactively prevent it through education. This article will teach you about the dangers of this insidious scam that preys on people’s hopes, so you and you’re loved ones could better avoid it.

How Lottery Scams Defraud People

It all starts innocently enough. Scammers contact people through, emails, texts, or even phone calls to inform them they have won the lottery. Unfortunately, that’s a blatant lie. This is just a hook to draw the victim into the scam. Quite often people get excited and the surge of positive emotions floods their ability to think critically. If they stop for a moment, they might realize that they have never applied for any lottery contest and that this turn of events is suspicious.

MBX Tip: Don’t engage in calls or messages saying you have won the lottery that you didn’t apply to. Legitimate lottery organizations provide prizes only to their contestants or people who actually bought lottery tickers. As exciting as it may sound if you have never bought a lottery ticket or signed in to a contest, the enticing message of winnings is bait for a scam.

In case the target believes they have won the lottery, the scam continues. The target is then led to believe they can collect the money, but unfortunately, there is just a small issue of transfer fees. The victim is then instructed to pay a certain amount in order to gain the prize. In reality, there are no winnings. This is just a gimmick the scammers use to defraud people.

MBX Tip: Lottery organizations will never ask for withdrawal fees or any kind of payment from their winners. Getting a prize doesn’t involve any kind of costs. If you’re miraculous winnings require advance payment, it’s a sign of a scam.

In general, the fictional sum of money is always large enough that the required payment seems small in comparison. Many people would gladly pay a thousand dollars to receive millions. Because of this, victims gladly pay up. Quite often, the scammers continue to string along their target and ask for additional fees. This way they keep the person in the illusion that they are just a tiny payment away from receiving their lottery riches.

Once the fraudsters collect the victim’s money, they disappear. The victim is left with monetary losses and broken dreams.

Manipulation Techniques in Lottery Scams

Many scam victims feel like it’s their fault for losing money. However, from our vast experience, we have come to understand that it’s never the case of a gullible person giving away their money. You need to understand that crooks use well-developed manipulation techniques and social engineering to extort money. The same applies to lottery-winning scams, and we want to educate people about the most common defrauding techniques involved in this type of fraud.

Phishing – The term applies to the most widespread type of fraud that plagues the internet. It implies that scammers send emails or texts with dangerous links. They are designed to extract money and sensitive information if a target clicks on them. When it comes to lottery winnings scams, phishing is the most common way how fraudsters trick people. A target receives an email about their prizes and they click on the link which activates the scam.

Cold Calling – Scammers often make unsolicited phone calls. In this case, they inform the target how they won the lottery. The fraudulent callers often use prepared scripts that are designed to manipulate the victim into giving away their money. Additionally, fraudsters might use more advanced manipulation techniques to trick the victim.

High-Pressure – In many scams fraudsters will create a false sense of urgency. The target is overwhelmed with pressure and they don’t have time to think and as a result, they succumb to fraud. Many lottery winnings scams will make an illusion that the victim has limited time to collect their prize or the offer expires. This way a person gets frightened they might lose the fictional money, and so they take the bait.

Spoofing – Fraudsters will send emails that emulate the overall design, content, and email address of a legitimate organization. This way the fraudulent email appears as if it came from a reputable agency. Many people fall for this and so they click on the link and activate the scam.

Other Types of Lottery Scams

Crooks are always thinking of new ways how to defraud people. This is why MBX is always on the lookout for new versions of popular scams. Though lottery winnings are quite common, we also want to inform you about similar types of fraud that we have encountered.

Free Luxury Items

Similarly to a lottery hook, the fraudsters can send emails that claim the person has won a car, a new iPhone, expensive jewelry, and so on. The scam functions exactly the same as the lottery winnings scheme, it’s just that the bait is not money, but highly expensive goods.

Fake Discounts

A person receives an email that appears to be from a reputable store that offers amazing discounts for expensive items. In reality, the email is fake, and there are no discounts, but they might lure the victim into the scam.

Free Cruise

We all want a relaxing all-inclusive vacation. Fraudsters will use lottery winnings fraud, but instead of money, they can claim the person has won a free cruise. If the target accepts they will soon encounter various fees to collect their fake ”free” cruise.

Identity Theft

Some lottery winnings scams might not go just after a person’s money, but they are after their personal information. Through cold calling or phishing, the scam might ask the target for their bank details and private data. If they acquire this, the crooks can abuse this information to commit identity theft and take out loans in the victim’s name.

You Can Reclaim Your Stolen Money – Take Action with MBX Guide!

Many people say that compared to other types of fraud and romance scams, lottery winnings schemes are small. Through years of working with fraud, the MBX team has come to the conclusion that this is not always the case. Firstly, the number of smaller scams piles up so in the end the overall losses for netizens are not insignificant. Secondly, for many people the money they lose on lottery scams is important.

Don’t be a simple number in fraud statistics and take action. We have created our easy-to-follow step-by-step guide for this reason. We want to teach you your rights and empower you to reclaim your stolen funds.