Beware of fake lottery scams
September 24, 2014
Wyoming Lottery Corporation warns Wyoming residents to be on guard against scams trying to trick consumers into providing money or personal financial information in order to claim a fake lottery prize.
"The Wyoming Lottery never asks winners for money in order to claim their prize," stressed Jon Clontz, CEO of the Wyoming Lottery Corporation. "We don’t notify people if they’ve won, they notify us."
A current scam involves an individual making phone calls, claiming to be the Wyoming Lottery and announcing to the person on the phone that they have won $2.5 million from either Powerball® or Mega Millions®. Then the caller asks for $800 to process their claim and pay the taxes.
Tips to keep from being scammed:
- The Wyoming Lottery does not know who the winners are until they come forward with a winning ticket. We do not notify you, you notify the Wyoming Lottery.
- The Wyoming Lottery never requires the payment of any money in order to claim a prize.
- No one should ever send any money to pay any ‘processing fee’ or any other requested fee in order to claim a prize.
- Never deposit any check sent to you that is accompanied by a request that you send or wire money to cover processing or claiming fees. The check that you’ve received is fraudulent and will bounce.
- Never provide any personal or financial information to a scammer, especially Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers.
You cannot win the Wyoming Lottery if you have not bought a lottery ticket.
If told to verify your prize by calling a certain number, don't call it as that number may be part of the scam. Instead contact the Wyoming Lottery Corporation at 855-995-6886 (855-WY-LOTTO).
Who to contact with questions or to report a lottery-related scam:
Report any attempted scam to the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-FTC-HELP or at the FTC Consumer Information website. If you need further information or have questions, contact the Wyoming Lottery Corporation at 855-995-6886 (855-WY-LOTTO) or 307-432-9300
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