Lottery Winners Beware Of Scammers
Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013 -- 12:51 PM
The Wisconsin Lottery and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) are urging players not to give out personal information to anyone who contacts them and says they have won a lottery prize.Recently several players were contacted about supposedly winning a special drawing associated with the Mega Millions jackpot game. The caller has attempted to get them to provide money and personal information in order to "process" their prize claim.
Mike Edmonds is the Lottery Director and he says to be suspicious of calls out of the blue that seem too good to be true.
Lottery, prize notice and sweepstakes scams are a significant issue for Wisconsin consumers. Among all consumer complaints logged by DATCP in 2012, the ?Contest / Sweepstakes / Prize Notices? category received the tenth most complaints of all categories.
Be wary of anyone who says you've won a prize in a game or drawing you never entered and know that legitimate lotteries and contests will NEVER ask you to pay a fee to collect a prize.
The Wisconsin Lottery will never contact players to tell them they've won a prize, unless they have entered a second-chance or special event drawing. The Lottery will never ask for personal bank information as a prerequisite to claiming a prize or require players to pay a fee or make special additional purchases to claim a prize.
If you're suspicious of a caller, please contact the Lottery at (608) 261-4916 or send an email to [email protected].
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.