Lottery Crime, Fraud, Hoaxes, Scams & Myths

General Advice

Be careful if you are approached by telephone, email, or the Internet claiming that you have won money in the South African Lottery. Remember:

1. If you receive a "prize notification" from a suspicious lottery, DO NOT respond to the emails.
2. Don't reveal your full identity, or give out your bank account or credit card details.
3. Lotteries do not charge an administration fee to facilitate a prize claim!
4. To win in the South African Lottery you need to buy a LOTTO ticket prior to the draw. If you didn't even buy a lottery ticket, how could you possibly have won?
5. Any prize claim can only be honored upon the actual presentation of a winning ticket.
6. The National Lotteries Board (NLB) established under the Lotteries Act of 1997 is the only statutory body charged with regulating the operation of the National Lottery in South Africa.
7. Gidani is the only company awarded a license to operate a lottery in South Africa.
8. The ONLY legitimate lottery in South Africa is the South African National Lottery and its official web site is nationallottery.co.za.

Lottery Scam Help and Information:

• Don't Be a Victim!: How to Protect Yourself from Hoaxes, Scams, and Frauds
  
  
• Click Here for more free information and good advice about Lottery Scams.
  
  
• If you think you may be, or have been scammed, Click Here for FraudAid.
  
  
• Crimes of Persuasion: Schemes Scams Frauds
  
  
• Gambling Scams
  
  
• Learn more about, report and discuss Lottery Scams Here.
  
  
• Report and discuss Nigerian 419 Fraud.
  
  
• You can also visit 419legal.org for additional info about lottery and 419 (Nigerian) scams originating (mainly) from Africa.
  

DISCLAIMER Please note: This website nationallottery.ws is NOT the official South African Lottery. In partnership with LottoFun* we, as "the South African National Lotto Service", provide a LEGITIMATE online ordering service for the South African Lottery. We are not in any other way associated with the official South African National Lottery, Gidani or the National Lotteries Board. *LottoFun is a convenient independent online lottery service that allows adult members to play the South African National Lottery on the internet. The South African National Lotto Service (nationallottery.ws) is an independent operator and official authorized commissioned partner (affiliate) of LottoFun.

Additional advice (with a USA bias) from the Federal Trade Commission for consumers who are thinking about responding to a foreign lottery or other potential cross-border scams:

• If you are a US citizen and you play a foreign lottery, you are violating federal law.
• Keep your Social Security, credit card and bank account numbers to yourself. Scam artists often ask for them during an unsolicited sales pitch.
• Do not fall for a promise. Telephone solicitations that require an upfront fee for advance-fee loans, unidentified investment opportunities or prize promotions are against U.S. law. Furthermore, legitimate lenders do not guarantee a loan before you apply, especially if you have bad credit or no credit record.
• If you do not recognize a telephone area code, check it out in your telephone directory.
• The bottom line, the commission says, is to ignore all solicitations for foreign lottery promotions. If you receive lottery material from a foreign country, give it to your local postmaster or contact your state attorney general's office or the FTC.

For further consumer information please consult the following USA government agency web sites:

Examples of Lottery Scams

• Scam sites offer bogus Hong Kong lottery tips
• Bogus E-mails Using Powerball® Name to Get Personal Data. ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (February 27, 2004) Full Story
• Nigerian 419 Scams: The 419 Coalition Website and here
• Lottery Scams and Known Operatives
• More about Lottery Scams here
• Spanish Lotto scam - Courtesy of iafrica.com
• Example of scam letter:
  
  
• Email scam letter example:
  

  THE HONOURABLE WINNER
  Webplus Lotto
  Industriestrasse 456
  FL 9492 Eschen
  Liechtenstein
  EUROPE

  FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
  INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT,
  REF: W/P/L /26510460037/03
  BATCH: 24/00319/IPD

  ATTENTION:RE/ AWARD NOTIFICATION; FINAL NOTICE

  We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today, 12th of November,2003, of winners of the our promo lotto via:

  Webplus Lotto PROGRAMS held on 15th of November, 2003. Your name,is attached to ticket number 023-0148-790-459, with serial number 5073-11 drew the lucky numbers 43-11-44-37- 10-43, and consequently wonthe lottery in the 3rd category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$3,000.000.00 in cash credited to file REF NO:W/P/L /26510460037/03

  This is from total prize money of US$80,400,000.00 shared among the seventeen international winners in this category. All participants were selected through a computer ballotsystem drawn form 25,000 names from Australia, New Zealand, America, Europe, North America,Africa and Asia as part of International PromotionsProgram, which is conducted annually.

  CONGRATULATIONS!

  Your fund is now deposited with a Security company insured via a lloyds of Amsterdam broker Due to the mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money receieved by you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants of this program. We hope with a part of you prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes US$1.3 billion International Lottery. To begin your claim,You will be given a form to complete and return same to the accredited lawyer attached to this office and then you will need to notorize your won prize at the high court Liechtenstein. Note that it is your responsibility to pay the lawyers minor handling charges in Notarizing your Won prize with the high court, Please contact your claim agent; Philip Goodwill: philonzo@maktoob.com

  For due processing and payment of your prize money. Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later than 26th of JUne, 2004. After this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed.

  NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, All winners will be asked to show evidence that they are eligible and identifiable. please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your correspondences with your agent. Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform your claims agent as soon as possible. Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program.

  Sincerely,
  Dr.Enrique Westerhoff

  The Promotions Manager,
  Webplus Lotto
  Liechtenstein

  N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification.

  The webplus lotteries are authorised and controlled by the government of Liechtenstein, a small sovereign state in the heart of Europe that is a member of the United Nations and of the European Economic Area.Our opinion is that you are not breaking any laws while playing at
  --------------------------------------------------
  Juega a la lotería primitiva sin salir de casa
  http://loterias.ozu.es/
  --------------------------------------------------
  Correo enviado desde http://www.ozu.es

Top Ten Myths About Lottery (and Why They Are Not True)

1. Odds of being struck by lightning are better than the odds of winning a lottery
2. Lottery is a form of taxation
3. Lotteries prey on the poor by target marketing to those who can least afford to play
4. Lottery purchases are made mostly by low-income people
5. That billboard thing in Illinois
6. You get nothing for your lottery purchase if you don't win a prize
7. Lottery is responsible for the growing number of compulsive gamblers in the United States
8. Because state governments benefit from lottery proceeds, they can't be trusted to regulate their industry
9. There is no assurance that lottery drawings are conducted fairly
10. Since there are relatively few payouts compared to the number lottery tickets sold, few people (only holders of winning tickets) actually benefit from lottery

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