National Lottery Mail Scams And UK

If a survey was taken of the American people to find out what the American dream meant, most would respond it involves the ability to work toward any goal with a genuine possibility for success. Working toward a guaranteed reward is part of the American way, not striking gold. Still, every person with a reasonable workload would enjoy the opportunity to have all of the money they could accrue in a lifetime come to them in one lump sum. The ability to exploit this latent desire helps make lottery scams extremely popular among con artists.

Using the mail to distribute lottery scams has become prevalent in the US. A number of things help identify lottery scams, but primary among them involves some common logic on behalf of the receiver. When a letter appears indicating winnings for a lottery one has never entered, it clearly must be a scam of some sort. Even internet notifications of a random online lottery winning must be lottery scams. The federal government strictly prohibits the use of internet addresses and the like without express permission from the user. In addition, phrases within the letter indicating a necessity to keep the lotto winnings a secret as part of security or a parallel excuse likely comes from perpetrators of lottery scams. There should never be a reason for silence in a lottery win unless it does not exist.

When given an association's name for the lottery, one may also search for the group's name with gaming commissions, since every genuine lottery would register with the commission. Still, searching for the names does not guarantee the validity of the claim. They still might be using a legitimate name without permission to plausibly grant his or her lottery scams validity. All the same, sites such as those of FraudWatch International provide constantly updated archives of names used by known lottery scams to help those unsure of their possible winnings.

Another interesting avenue of lottery scams of late has involved the claim of lotto winnings outside of the US. Once again, the easiest way to avoid lottery scams of this nature requires a person know whether or not he or she has actually purchased a ticket for said lotto. The federal government has outlawed the purchase of lottery tickets over the phone or postage, so any request to make such a purchase must be fraudulent. In particular, claims have surfaced with some regularity regarding the lottery in Spain awarding winnings to US citizens, but essentially all claims in this vein are lottery scams. Again, unless someone was physically present to buy the purported winning ticket in Spain, the chance of winning said lottery must clearly be nonexistent.

As the adage goes, few things in life are free, and millions of dollars certainly could not come easily. Americans recognize as much implicitly. Still, a few fall prey to admittedly convincing lottery scams everyday. With a little logic and an understanding, no one need suffer lottery scams of the present, or the even more complex ones sure to come.


Sources:
"International Lottery Scams." Federal Trade Commission. Jan. 2006. Federal Trade Commission. 28 Aug. 2007. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/intlalr t.shtm.

"Know Lottery Scam Operatives." FraudWatch International. 2007. FraudWatch International Pty Ltd. 28 Aug. 2007. http://www.fraudwatchinternational.com/known-scam- operatives/.

"Lottery Scams." FraudAid. 2007. Fraud Aid Advisory Council. 28 Aug. 2007. http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpam/Lottery/identify_ lottery_scam_letter.htm.

"Spanish Lottery Scam." Bureau of Consular Affairs. 28 Aug. 2007. U.S. Department of State. 28 Aug. 2007. http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_2 475.html.