Foreign Lottery Scams

I’m Ilyce Glink with expertrealestatetips.net. Would you like to win a million dollars in the lottery? I would. I mean who wouldn’t?

But when you get an email that tells you you’ve won a million dollars, two million dollars or even 10 million dollars in a lottery you didn’t enter, you’ve got to wonder where that’s coming from.

Typically these kinds of emails ask you for passwords, specific bank account information of course so they can deposit your winnings right into your account — that’s great customer service. Or other kinds of personal information that’ll allow them to steal your identity and your money.

The problem with foreign lottery scams is that there are new twists to the formula that could ensnare you if you’re not careful.

I recently received an email about a one million pound lottery that supposedly was sponsored by Coca Cola and British American Tobacco Worldwide. If that commercial marriage weren’t strange enough, the letter acknowledged that I never entered the contest but that my email address had been randomly selected and then assigned to a winning ticket number.

Now most of us are smart enough to know that if you don’t enter a contest, it’s difficult to win it. Random selection? That’s a huge red flag.

The most common foreign lottery scams usually talk about how you won the lottery in Spain or England. Or sometimes somewhere in Africa.

You may be asked for your Social Security number to verify your name or address or the account number of your checking or savings account so that your winnings can be direct deposited.

As with most forms of phishing or other kinds of email scams, these are emails that you should just ignore. Don’t hit the reply button, instead hit delete and you’ll be protected.

I’m Ilyce Glink and for more real estate and personal finance tips, visit my Web site, expertrealestatetips.net.