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The Lotteries and Gaming Authority would like to alert the general public to beware of a number of scam lotteries which are not only unregulated, but which are also fraudelent. Such scam lotteries often involve that members of the public receive an email or ‘sms’ message on their mobile phone that they have won a prize in a foreign lottery or sweepstakes. Although most of the general public usually do not take any due account of such suspicious lottery wins, however, a small percentage of the public who may be vulnerable to such communications may fall in the trap of genuinely taking such ‘phantom’ wins seriously.
If you receive a "prize notification" from a suspicious lottery:
- Don't respond to the emails or sms received.
- Don't pay any money in advance to collect a prize.
- Don't reveal your identity.
- Don't reveal your bank account number or credit card details.
- Report such suspicious lotteries to the Lotteries and Gaming Authority or to the Police.
How to identify ‘suspicious’ lotteries
- You should be suspicious of messages received of a win, when the individual knows that he/she have never participated in a lottery.
- You should be suspicious of messages received of a win, when you are asked to deposit a sum in a bank account in order to process your win, pay for bank transfer charges or for ‘shipping and handling charges’
- You should be suspicious of messages received of a win, when you are asked to disclose your credit card details or bank account for the deposit of the win, in a lottery that you have never participated in.
The General Public is informed that they should play with operators who are duely licensed by a reputable authority such as the Lotteries and Gaming Authority.
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