Steer clear of foreign lottery scams
People are inclined to gamble every now and then and the appeal of lotteries remains intact in spite of the fact that the market is so diverse these days. In the United States, the government prohibits online gambling and this leaves the audience with fewer choices, with the lottery being the most attractive one. Speaking of which, in each state people can choose between a couple of games and playing online lotteries is both risky and illegal. Officials great to great lengths to remind people that the danger of foreign lottery scams is all too real, still many people are tricked by these wrongdoers from abroad.
From prosperity to bankruptcy
Most foreign lottery scams are run by people who reside in Jamaica and this country is now frequently associated to such criminal activities. The FBI and the United States Postal Service are warning people not to believe in the promises made by these scam artists. Initially their claims appear to be harmless and that’s what makes them so hard to resist, because they promise to deliver huge amounts of money without any strings attached. The victim is notified about winning the jackpot in a foreign lottery and instructed to follow a couple of steps to cash in the prize.
In addition to asking for personal information and data that could be used against the owner in identity theft cases, the perpetrators also demand money. The amounts are initially low and allegedly aimed at paying for the taxes necessary to take the jackpot out of the country and send the money to the US. This is only the first step, because once the scam artists get the victim hooked on their plan they demand more money. There is always a sense of urgency in their demands and the victims are asked to move quickly to avoid the forfeit of the jackpot.
Foreign lottery scams keep evolving
Until recently, the perpetrators asked for money until the victim stopped paying because he didn’t have any and occasionally resorted to threats. Nowadays, the bad guys have tweaked their methods and when the victim runs out of money they use another way of drying them up. They ask new victims to send money into the account of former ones who ran out of cash and this has a two-pronged effect. On one hand the foreign lottery scams keep going even when the original victim is bankrupt, on the other the new ones don’t suspect anything is wrong because they are asked to send money the US.
The authorities are particularly concerned with the ability of scam artists to come up with new ways of extracting money from naive players and try to keep people up-to-date. They overstate the importance of playing only local lotteries that are regulated by the state authorities or the government. Foreign lotteries are illegal and there is no way of winning the jackpot without purchasing a ticket in the first place.
Check out the The threat of Jamaican lottery scams as well.
