In recent times, lottery claim refund emails have become increasingly clever, as well as a lot more common. Indeed, lottery scam emails are nothing new, but they are becoming a lot more widespread as technology progresses and an increasing number of people gain access to the internet.
As it goes, emails are quite easy to forge; they can appear to come from an official sounding source, which can often lead unsuspecting recipients to appear far more trustworthy than they should be. A typical lottery scam email informs the recipient that they have won a major prize and then requests that the “winner” takes a number of steps to claim it. As such, one of the steps will be to claim the prize, and then arranging for it to be transferred to the winner’s bank account.
The scam procedure for a prize transfer involves the recipient being asked to pay a handling fee so that their prize can be deposited into the bank account of the winner. This fee is often a sizeable amount of four figures or more; however, because the reader thinks they have won millions, and they are dealing with an official organisation, they are often willing to pay this sum. Of course, as soon as the handling fee has been paid, the scam is complete and the unsuspecting lottery winner has unfortunately lost a substantial amount of money.
However, there are some lottery scam warnings to look out for, which can prove very useful in helping lottery players avoid being duped:First, always remember that you can only win a lottery game that you have actually entered. If you can’t remember entering a lottery that an email says you have won, consider this to be a big red flag; someone is probably trying to scam you.
Next, always look at the name of the lottery that the email is purported to represent. Scam emails often name lottery organisations that don’t exist in the real world, as is the case in a UK International Lottery scam. Therefore, if the lottery doesn’t exist, you can be sure the email is also a fake.Finally, be sure to note that no genuine lottery game will ever ask you to pay any handling fee in order to claim a prize.
So, if you get a scam email (or letter, or phone call) asking you for money because you’re a “winner”, either ignore it or report it to the authorities. Although you can’t stop lottery scam emails from arriving in your inboxes, the good news is that from looking out for the specific lottery scam warnings, you can avoid getting caught out by them.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed, so by paying attention to the latest scam developments, you will be in the best possible position to stay safe in what is becoming an increasingly deceptive online world. Daniel Collins writes on a number of topics on behalf of a digital marketing agency and a variety of clients. As such, this article is to be considered a professional piece with business interests in mind.
