The Consumer Federation of America says that one-third of all adults in the US have received a scam offer. The most common fraud is a “lottery” scam, in which the target is told that they have been selected as the grand prize winner in a lottery.  For those adults who actually fall for the scam, their monetary loss averages about  $3,000. Women over the age of 70 are the most likely targets of lottery frauds.

What is a lottery fraud scam and how can you avoid one?  Lottery scams are “advance fee” scams in which the target is told they’ve won the grand prize in a lottery – provided that they pay an up-front fee to “process” the winnings.

The scam artist may advance the target cash in the form of a check cover the cost of taxes, etc. and to reimburse the target for processing fees being sought. Upon receiving and depositing the check, the “winner” is instructed to write a personal check to pay the actual fees and taxes.   The lottery office check turns out to be bogus, while the check written by the victim is unfortunately very real.

The bottom line to avoiding this kind of fraud is to accept the following three facts.

You cannot win a lottery you did not enter.  Likewise, the odds of someone entering your name in a foreign lottery are probably even smaller than your odds of winning one.

It is illegal for US citizens to participate from within the US in gambling ventures operated in foreign countries. US citizens must be physically in a foreign country to participate in foreign gambling ventures.

In some countries, lottery drawings aren’t even legal.

If you’ve been told that you’re a winner on a lottery you’ve never heard of, don’t remember entering the lottery, or have no way to have purchased a foreign lottery ticket, (and you still believe you have a chance of being the winner) do a little research to see if you can find any information about the operation.

Find out if such a lottery exists; how participants enter the lottery; what kind of lottery it is; whether lottery proceeds are taxable, and how drawings are conducted.  Your research should quickly turn up details on the scam.

If you’re asked to pay a processing fee and the scam artist sends you an “advance payment” of any kind, you can rightfully assume that this isn’t legitimate.

Lottery scams are most attractive to older persons who may not be savvy enough to conduct the proper research. If you know of someone who may be a likely target, talk with them about these scams before they become involved in one.