Everyone loves to be a winner, and that’s exactly why criminals still orchestrate prize and sweepstakes scams. Certain details may vary, but the average scam starts with notification that you’ve won a sweepstakes, lottery, or even a physical prize (e.g. a car, a laptop, etc.) Scammers will use every avenue available to them, so this notification may come from a call, text, email, letter, or even a message on social media.

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The goal is to exploit your excitement and require payment or personal information to receive your prize. They may claim this is to pay taxes or a shipping fee, or that they need to verify your information to send or transfer your prize. It can be hard to be skeptical of an enticing prize, but it’s crucial that look at the situation critically.

 

Red Flags:

• You never entered a contest, raffle, or sweepstakes. There are very few instances where you are automatically entered in a contest without any action on your part. Games of chance are subject to legal requirements and restrictions, both on the federal and state levels. If you know you didn’t enter, and/or you’ve never heard of the company offering the prize, you can immediately assume this is fraud.

• Payment is required to get your prize. If you ever encounter anyone requiring you to pay them a fee for anything like taxes, shipping, or processing to get your prize—you’re dealing with a scammer. Real prizes are free, so you should never expect a required cost upfront. You can be doubly sure this is a scam if you are asked to pay via wire transfer, cash, gift cards, or cryptocurrency. These payments are ideal for scammers because it’s difficult to track the recipient and it’s very unlikely you will get your funds back.

• They need your personal information. While it may be reasonable for a company to verify your contact information to receive a prize, there is never good reason to provide your social security number, card number, bank account information, or any account passwords. If any of this information is requested or required, it is in you best interest to end all communication.

• You can pay to increase your odds. It is illegal for someone to ask you to pay any amount to increase the likelihood of winning a game of chance.

• All you have to do to receive your award is click a link. Never interact with any links sent to you by an unfamiliar or unverified source. Even if you do not knowingly provide any personal information, just clicking on certain links can grant criminals access to your information or install malware on you device.

• You have to act fast or forfeit your prize. Don’t ever allow yourself be rushed without investigating an offer. Scammers use this sense of urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out) to pressure you to act without thinking.

• You have to send part of your prize back. This usually deals specifically with monetary prizes. You may be sent a check and told to deposit it to your account, and send a designated amount back to them. This is a fake check, and you will not be keeping any of the money. It can sometimes take multiple days for a financial institution to confirm a check is fraudulent. In the meantime however, the funds are made available and show in your account. Once it’s know the check isn’t legitimate these same funds will be removed from your account and you will be responsible for any amount you sent to the scammer.

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Skill-based contests are a notable exception. A contest where you must solve problems or answer trivia questions correctly to win can require a pay-to-play fee. Skill-based contests are entirely different from lotteries, sweepstakes, and giveaways as these are all games of chance. Keep in mind, reputable skill-based contests will still require the fee upon entry—not after playing to release your reward.