Lottery Scam Home Menu:

How to identify a lottery scam letter

How to really verify a check or money order

The answers to your most frequent lottery scam questions

It is illegal for US Citizens to enter foreign lotteries: Federal Statute

Look in the Lottery Scam Email database for emails that are like the one you got

Lottery names used in lottery scam letters

Green Card Lottery Scam: Truth and Lies in simple words

International Lotteries vs. Lottery Scams

Luck of the draw: Numbers games and drawings

Free lotteries - Some are legitimate, some are not

List of Official US Federal and State Lottery web sites

Gaming Commissions and Lottery Associations

ID Theft Prevention To-Do List

Threat emails

File a Scam Email Report

Payment Processing & other Counterfeit Draft Scams

FDIC Special Alerts List of Counterfeit Checks

LUCK OF THE DRAW: NUMBERS GAMES & DRAWINGS

The difference between

Pay-to-play lotteries

Free lotteries

Sweepstakes

Rewards Programs

IN ALL CASES, YOU MUST ENTER A DRAWING TO WIN.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A RANDOM EMAIL DRAWING OR RANDOM DRAWING OF ANY KIND THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE AN ENTRY OR TICKET PURCHASE PRIOR TO DRAWING FOR A WINNER.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a recommendation to play or not to play free online lottery games. Fraud Aid is not affiliated with any pay-to-play or free online lottery or Sweepstakes games and derives no income from any pay-to-play or free online lotteries or Sweepstakes or any of their participating sponsors with the possible exception of a sponsor's independent advertising unassociated with any drawings promotion; nor does Fraud Aid promote or sponsor any lotteries or Sweepstakes or numbers drawing of any kind.

Note: For purposes of this article, "hat" refers to any container in which numbers, tickets, or entries are placed to be drawn at random by a person (pulled from the container without looking) or by a Random Numbers Generator (RNG). 

Pay-to-play lotteries

A lottery is a form of gambling in which a person buys a ticket printed with pre-selected numbers or numbers of choice for a chance to win a jackpot (money pool), which is the amount of money set aside from ticket sales after the expenses of running the lottery are deducted.  The gamble is that the set of numbers one has purchased will be the same as those blindly drawn from a hat.  A ticket MUST be purchased to participate.  See More about pay-to-play lotteries.

Free online lotteries

A so-called free lottery is actually a Sweepstakes offered in pay-to-play lottery fashion, where the jackpot is set up by a marketing company on behalf of its merchant customers.  The merchants provide money for the jackpot in return for Sweepstakes entrants viewing their ads. See More about free online lotteries.

Sweepstakes

A Sweepstakes is a drawing for a prize or prizes.  The prize(s) may consist of one product or cash or may offer several prizes of differing value.

Sweepstakes are sponsored by merchants in a specific geographical area to promote their products to residents of that area.  In order to participate in the drawing, one MUST provide a name, address, and telephone number on an entry form, usually the size of a large ticket.  These are called entries.  Entries are drawn from a hat at the end of the Sweepstakes.  See More about Sweepstakes.

Rewards Programs

A Rewards Program is not a game.  There is no drawing, and there are no prizes to win.  Rewards are points given to a consumer for purchasing products.  The reward points may be accumulated through purchases made using certain credit cards or through card punches at a merchant's establishment.