Prize and Lottery Scams

This Topic Includes:
"Spanish" and "Dutch" lottery letters and emails
Overseas lotteries ticket sellers - general warning
Lotteries in New Zealand
Report it

What are prize and lottery scams?

These are notifications that advise people that they have won a prize (often for a competition they didn't even enter). 

The notification could arrive through the mail, by email or from an unsolicited telephone call.

How to spot a prize or lottery scam

If the prize or lottery notification has any of the following elements, we strongly suggest you do not respond to it:

• The information advises that you have won a prize - but you did not enter any competition run by the prize promoters.
• The mail may be personally addressed to you but it has been posted using bulk mail - thousands of others around the world may have received the exact same notification.
• The prize promoters ask for a fee (for administration or "processing") to be paid in advance.
• Other schemes pretend to be legitimate lotteries, or offer you the opportunity to buy shares in a fund that purports to purchase tickets in legitimate overseas lotteries.
• The scheme offers bait prizes that, if they are real, are often substandard, over-priced, or falsely represented.  Or, as part of the prize you can purchase "exclusive items" which may also be over-priced or substandard.
• To get your prize might require travel overseas at your own cost to receive it.

"Spanish" and "Dutch" lottery letters and emails

These letters, faxes and emails advise consumers of a major win in a recent draw of overseas lottery. Most are allegedly located in Spain or the Netherlands although there are also versions referring to lotteries in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia.

The El Gordo Spanish Sweepstake Lottery (and variations on this name) is the most common version sent by mail.  

The letters operate as an advanced fee fraud. The lottery winnings do not exist.

What happens if I reply to the letter ?

If you contact the lottery operator, you will be asked to provide details of bank accounts and confirmation of your identity. Once interest is shown in collecting winnings, the lottery operators will ask for money in advance to pay costs relating to administration, foreign currency charges or security. This request should send alarm bells ringing as legitimate lotteries do not ask for funds in advance of payout - their operating costs are not deducted from individual prizes.

What to do if you receive a letter 

Remember the following rules if you receive a notification of prize winnings so you won't be caught out:

• You can't win a prize in a lottery you haven't bought or been given a ticket for.
• Legitimate lotteries don't ask for funds in advance of paying out prize money.
• Never provide personal identity information to a company or person you do not know.

Spanish lotteries

These lottery letters rely on people confusing them with authorised Spanish lotteries such as the El Gordo de la Primitiva and El Gordo de Navidad.

The Spanish Ministry of the Treasury has advised us that legitimate lottery tickets can only be purchased from authorised ticket sellers in Spain.

The official agency that oversees lotteries in Spain (Loterias y Apuestas del Estado) has information on this fraud on its website. Click on the link on the left hand side called "Otros Avisos" for the warning about these lotteries and information on how to contact this agency. The information is available in Spanish and English.

Overseas lotteries ticket sellers

There are several operators, mainly from European countries, that appear to offer New Zealand consumers the opportunity to purchase tickets in legitimate lotteries run in the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, for example. These operators ask consumers to send funds in advance (or credit card information) which will be used by the operator to purchase tickets in these lotteries. Consumers usually don't receive the tickets but instead receive statements providing information about the prize draw and any "winnings".

The concerns are:

• that the ticket prices are far higher than face value of the actual lottery ticket price,
• information from the operator may not state you become part of a syndicate (or the size of that syndicate)
• the consumer has no information on whether the funds they are sending are applied to purchasing tickets, or
• the consumer has no information that the small "winnings" they may receive from time to time are from actual prize payouts and not from other consumers ticket purchase funds.

Ticket seller schemes that promote the sale of overseas lottery tickets to New Zealand consumers include the European Lottery Guild, SKL, Boesche (German Lottery Agency).

Lotteries in New Zealand

Lotteries in NZ (eg, Lotto) have to be licensed to operate by our own Department of Internal Affairs. For more information about gaming laws in New Zealand visit the Department of Internal Affairs website.

Report it!

Remember to check whether it is already listed before making a report. If you have received an Prize and Lottery scam or Spanish and Dutch version you can report it via the Scamwatch site.