Scams

Lottery scams are a very common issue, and it is not unusual for scammers to target consumers under the guise of being a lottery institution or a representative of one. Read on for some more information about lottery scams, how to spot them and how to avoid them.

You cannot win prizes from Lotto India if you have not entered a draw. Any correspondence saying otherwise is a case of lottery fraud.

If you have played Lotto India and believe you may have won a prize, you can check your numbers to verify your winnings.

Avoiding Scams

In order to be sure you aren't being scammed by a fraudster pretending to be a representative of Lotto India, remember these key rules:

• Lotto India is a free lottery. Never believe anyone that says you need to pay to enter a draw, as this is false
• You cannot win any prizes from Lotto India if you have not purchased an entry into the lottery. If you receive a notification that you have won a Lotto India prize, but you haven't purchased an entry, the message is not from Lotto India but a scammer.
• Lotto India will never charge you for claiming or receiving a prize; if you are asked to pay an upfront fee in order to receive prize money, you are being scammed.
• Lotto India does not offer prize draws where winners are selected randomly by email address or phone number. The only ways to win are through purchasing an entry.

How To Spot a Scam

As sophisticated as some lottery scams can be, it's not too hard to spot one when you know what to look for. Here are some questions to ask yourself, based on the common characteristics of lottery scams:

• Did you enter the Lotto India draw or competition referred to in the message you received? Remember, Lotto India does not award prizes to those who haven't purchased an entry.
• Does the message imply you have an extremely limited amount of time to collect your winnings? Lotto India never puts a short-term deadline on your winnings; this is a common scammer tactic designed to put pressure on you to act immediately or irrationally.
• Is the message in question spelt or worded poorly? Scam messages are often not written in the sender's native language, and while the presence of a spelling mistake doesn't always mean that a message is a scam, you should treat consistently bad spelling and grammar as a red flag.
• Does the message ask you to keep the prize in question confidential? Lotto India will never ask you to keep winning a prize a secret. If you are notified of a prize and asked to keep it a secret, it is a scammer trying to keep their scam from being discovered by anyone else.

Types of Scam

Scams come in many shapes and sizes, but they are all designed with the goal of fraudulently obtaining your money and personal information. Here are some examples of the kind of lottery scams you might come across.

Email

You might receive an email from somebody claiming to be an agent of Lotto India, with a message asking you to follow a link to a website, provide personal information, or pay a fee to receive prize money. They may provide seemingly-official pieces of information to appear legitimate - such as reference numbers or job titles -, and they will make it clear that you have to act quickly and in secrecy to claim your prize. Some emails may contain links to malicious websites which are designed to gather your personal information - these are known as 'phishing' emails.

Do not click on a link from an email like this unless you are expecting an email from Lotto India and you are absolutely sure the email is legitimate. An email may be fraudulent if:

• It addresses you as Winner, instead of by your name;
• It lacks proper spelling and grammar;
• It includes a link to an unfamiliar website;
• It asks for your password or bank details up front.

Any official emails from Lotto India will be sent from an email address that ends with @lotto-india.com or @jackpot.com. Lotto India does not send emails from free webmail addresses such as gmail.com or yahoo.com.

Mobile Phone

You might receive a text or phone call claiming you have won a prize from Lotto India, as a result of your phone number being drawn at random. Lotto India does not run competitions of this kind; you can only be eligible for a Lotto India prize if you have bought a ticket.

Lotto India will never ask for your personal information via text and you will only ever receive a telephone call from Lotto India if you have won the jackpot. Look out for the following signs to determine if you're being targeted by a phone scam:

• You are not addressed by name;
• You are asked to supply personal information directly;
• The phone call includes automated messages;
• You are asked to provide bank details or make a payment over the telephone;
• The caller pressures you to act there and then, with the threat that you will lose out on the prize money if you don't.

If you have played Lotto India and receive a phone call informing you that you've won the jackpot, only proceed if you are 100% sure that the call is legitimate. If you have any doubts about the veracity of the call, put the phone down and get in touch with our customer support team via the details on our contact page. If you do win the Lotto India jackpot, you will not lose out on the prize money by ending the conversation and getting back in touch with us.

Social Media

Lotto India has various social media accounts to share lottery news and events with fans around the world. However, Lotto India will never use these accounts to notify you of a lottery win. Scammers may create false social media accounts using Lotto India branding to attempt to harvest your personal information by falsely notifying you that you've won a prize.

Lotto India will never ask for personal information, such as passwords or bank details, over social media. If you suspect you have received a scam message through social media, do not respond. A message on social media may be illegitimate if:

• It suggests you have won a prize;
• It lacks proper spelling and grammar;
• It asks directly for a password or bank details.

Postal

You might receive a letter in the post, telling you you've won a Lotto India prize and requesting personal information, or an up-front deposit or fee to release the money. Lotto India will never notify you of a lottery win through the post, nor will Lotto India ever require payment to release prize money.

A letter may be illegitimate if:

• It is not addressed to you personally, or reads Dear Winner;
• It lacks proper spelling and grammar;
• It directly asks for personal information;
• It asks you to pay money via a bank transfer or wiring service;
• The letterhead and included images are blurry, pixelated, or generally of poor quality;
• The letter looks like it has been repeatedly photocopied or reproduced.

Lottery scam artists are always upgrading the ways in which they operate - and new scams can therefore appear all the time. The best course of action is to remain vigilant, and remember: if you haven't played Lotto India, any message or notification that you have won a prize is a scam.

What To Do If You're The Target of a Lotto India Scam

If you suspect that you have received fraudulent messages from scammers pretending to be Lotto India - be it by phone, email, letter or social media - take the following precautionary steps:

• If you have received a potentially fraudulent email: do not open the email or any attachments, and do not click any hyperlinks in the content of the email.
• Do not respond to the sender of the message at all. Any acknowledgement of the message could open you up to further fraudulent messages.
• Do not pay any fees requested, no matter how small.
• Do not reveal any personal information to the sender of the message, as you could potentially open yourself up to identity fraud and theft.
• Do not comply with requests for copies of personal documents, such as your birth certificate, utility bills, driver's license or other photo ID.
• If you have already sent personal information to the sender: contact your bank at the earliest convenience, and consider contacting your local police for further advice.

You may wish to contact Lotto India directly regarding a message you have received, to verify it or alert us to it. You can do so through our Contact page. If you think you have legitimately won a Lotto India prize, go to the How To Claim page for information on how to proceed.