Lottery office urges Hoosiers to beware of lottery scams

Thursday, February 09, 2006 posted 10:18 AM EST

The Hoosier Lottery has become aware of a fraudulent lottery circulating around Indiana. The phony lottery sends e-mail notifying potential victims that they have won $650,000 in the “Hoosier Online Lottery 2005 end of the year Promotional Drawing.”

Like most other scams of its kind, this scam tricks victims into believing they have won a large sum of money and requests personal information, including a copy of the victims’ driver’s license and bank account numbers.

By releasing such information, an unknowing victim could be cheated out of hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

The Multi-State Lottery Association, which includes all 30 participating Powerball member lotteries, also recently became aware of another lottery scam. This latest fraudulent lottery actually refers to itself as the Multi-State Lottery Inc. and contacts unsuspecting victims through standard mail.

This scam involves asking the “winner” for fees to claim the prize sending them a check to cover the cost of the fees. The “winner” is able to cash the check and sends the money, but the check then bounces, costing the victim thousands of dollars.

These type of lottery scams are not only becoming more common, but much more sophisticated, said Hoosier Lottery Executive Director, Esther Schneider. Lately, lottery scams have begun using names and contact information that closely resembles that of legitimate lotteries.

Related Links
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