Watch out for Lottery scammers online
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
CLEVELAND (WJW) — Playing the big national lottery like Mega Millions and Powerball is about dreaming big. The odds are great but if you are that one in a million — or more accurately one in 302 million — you will have all those dreams come true.
That’s what lottery scammers are banking on.
Danielle Frizzi-Babb with the Ohio Lottery said usually when there is a really big jackpot like the recent $242 million win in Macedonia, the scams pop up like spring flowers.
The latest one affecting Mega Millions states and has shown up in emails, texts and on the popular What’s App. It claims to be from Mega Millions France and is a random sweepstake for What’s APP users for $700 thousand.
The only thing is, there is no such thing as Mega Millions France and the country code 44 is for the UK. The scam is even written poorly.
“We’re never going to ask you to send us money you’re going to have to come to our office to claim one of those big jackpot prizes, so nothing is going to be done digitally. Clearly, if it’s an email, misspellings are a dead giveaway that it’s some sort of a scam. Or if the grammar is a little bit off, that’s a good tip,” Frizzi-Babb said.
but when a big or little jackpot is won, the lottery doesn’t really know who it is until the winner comes forward with the ticket. So, they’ll never ever call, text or email you with the news.
Frizzi-Babb said if you receive something that tells you you’ve won a lottery prize, the best thing you can do is find out from the source and call the Ohio Lottery.
If you have questions about any correspondence you’ve received from the Ohio Lottery you, should call or email their customer service line at (800)686-4208.
