Lottery and sweepstakes winner scam

A scammer informs you that you've won a lottery, sweepstakes, or "international promotion." The most common impersonations are Publishers Clearing House, MegaMillions, Powerball, or "European Lottery." To claim, you need to pay an upfront fee — taxes, processing, courier insurance, customs.

US tax law does not require winners to pay taxes upfront to receive prizes. Real lotteries withhold taxes from the disbursement. Real sweepstakes don't require you to pay anything to claim. Anyone asking you to pay to receive a prize is running the scam.

Older adults are disproportionately targeted, especially via mail and phone. Median individual losses run $1,000–$5,000 with some cases reaching tens of thousands.

By mail:

"Congratulations! You are one of three finalists in the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes. To claim your $5,000 weekly-for-life prize, please call the Prize Patrol Coordinator at (404) 555-0199 within 7 days."

By phone:

"Mrs. Anderson, this is the Prize Patrol. You're about to receive your $2.5 million check. We just need you to wire $899 to cover the IRS withholding before we deliver."

By email:

"Dear Beneficiary, you have won the El Gordo Spanish Lottery. To process your winnings of €1,250,000, please send your bank details and the €450 processing fee."

• You "won" a lottery you don't remember entering.
• Payment is required upfront — taxes, fees, customs, courier.
• The caller claims to be the IRS, "Prize Patrol," or a foreign government official.
• Payment requested via gift cards, wire, prepaid debit cards, or crypto.
• Pressure to act today before the prize "expires."
• The caller asks for personal info (SSN, bank account) to "deposit the winnings."
• "Don't tell anyone until you receive the check."

• Publishers Clearing House. Real PCH never charges to claim. They show up unannounced for the big prizes.
• Foreign lottery. International lotteries like El Gordo, EuroMillions, UK National Lottery. US persons aren't eligible to win foreign lotteries by mail anyway.
• Mega/Powerball "second-chance" drawing. Plays on belief that losing tickets get a second chance.
• Sweepstakes vacation. "You won a cruise. Just pay port fees of $398."
• Car winner. "You won a new SUV. Pay the registration and delivery fees."
• Reader's Digest sweepstakes — frequently impersonated.

1. You did not win a lottery you did not enter. That alone disqualifies most of these.
2. No legitimate lottery, sweepstakes, or contest requires upfront payment. Real winners are deducted-from at distribution.
3. Real Publishers Clearing House doesn't call ahead — they show up. They never ask for payment.
4. US residents cannot legally win foreign lotteries by mail. Federal law prohibits the cross-border purchase.
5. Call the supposed lottery directly using a number from its official .com / .gov website. Don't use numbers from the message.
6. Search the agent's name + "scam." Same names recur across thousands of cases.

• Contact gift-card issuers, wire services, and your bank immediately.
• File a report with the FTC, IC3, and your state attorney general.
• Report to AARP's fraud helpline (1-877-908-3360) if you're an older adult or helping one.
• Watch for the second-stage scam — "you were approved but more fees are required to finalize."
• Tell family. Many victims of lottery scams don't tell anyone out of embarrassment, and so the scammer extracts repeatedly.
• Block the caller's number and add to your phone's reject list.

• Do not pay any "taxes" to receive a prize. The IRS does not collect prize taxes via Western Union or gift cards.
• Do not share SSN, bank account, or copy of ID to "deposit the prize."
• Do not keep the "winning" secret because the caller asked you to.
• Do not assume official-looking letterhead or seals are evidence of legitimacy. They are trivial to forge.

• FTC: reportfraud.ftc.gov — the broadest US fraud intake; reports flow to thousands of law-enforcement agencies.
• FBI IC3: ic3.gov — the right destination when the scam is internet-enabled (phishing, BEC, romance, crypto).
• CFPB: consumerfinance.gov/complaint — for complaints about banks, money transmitters, payment apps, credit cards, debt collection.
• IdentityTheft.gov — if any identity information (SSN, driver's license, account credentials) was shared.
• Your bank or payment platform. Call the number on the back of your card or use the app's in-product help. Time matters — wires can sometimes be recalled within hours; ACH and Zelle are harder but worth trying.

My mom won a lottery and the caller sounds very official. How do I check? Hang up. Call back the supposed lottery directly using a number from its official website. If she "won" Publishers Clearing House, look up PCH's real customer service number. If she didn't enter, she didn't win.

Real lottery commissions withhold tax — doesn't the scammer's claim line up with that? Yes, but the timing is different. Real withholding happens at distribution — they hand you the post-tax check. They never ask you to send tax money first.

What about contest sweepstakes I do enter — McDonald's Monopoly, gas-station scratchers? Real ones never require payment to claim. If they did, that would violate state consumer-protection law in nearly every US state.

Can a real lottery prize come through Facebook? No. Facebook itself doesn't run lotteries. Almost all "Facebook lottery" messages come from compromised friend accounts running the fake-grant playbook.