Avoid Lottery Scams

Avoid Lottery Scams

Attempts to deceive people, especially Internet users, into believing that they have won a lottery prize are now commonplace. Scammers are looking for sensitive personal information such as your name, address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security number, bank or credit card account number and ultimately - your money in the effort to defraud you.

• Please be on high alert for scams that claim to be affiliated with the Georgia Lottery Corporation or one of our games, like Powerball or Mega Millions. If you receive a call, letter, email, text or social media message saying that you’ve won a lottery prize, please do not respond or provide any personal information. The Georgia Lottery will only call or send a win and payment email when a prize has been won from a purchase made online using an iHOPE account. The Georgia Lottery does not send out winning notifications via postal mail. Unless you specifically entered a second chance drawing from the Georgia Lottery, there is no other circumstance where you will be contacted by us informing you that you've won a prize. If at any point you feel that you have been a victim of fraud, we suggest that you contact the Federal Trade Commission, where they can assign a case number to investigate your claim: www.ftc.gov.  
• If you receive a check with directions to cash and return a portion of the cash, do not respond. The check is not valid and will be returned for insufficient funds. No legitimate lottery will ever send you this type of communication.
• Do not be fooled into providing personal information to scammers. Scammers often provide Internet-based claim forms or request personal information over the phone, such as credit card or bank account information.
• If you are requested to pay a fee before winnings can be released to you, this is a fraud. Never send money. A legitimate lottery will never require you to pay money for advanced fees to cover expenses associated with the delivery of "winning prizes."
• Never redeem a Lottery ticket for someone you do not know. Never pay cash to someone offering to sell a "winning ticket."
• Never accept a collect phone call from someone claiming to be a Lottery official.
• Only purchase Georgia Lottery tickets from one of over 8,700 official Georgia Lottery retailers located in the state of Georgia.
• If you feel you have been a victim of fraud you should: Read the information and tips put out by the Federal Trade Commission about scams. Forward the suspicious email to the Federal Trade Commission's address for unsolicited commercial email at spam@uce.gov . Notify the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) of the FBI by filing a complaint on their web site at: www.ic3.gov.