Lottery Frauds
You may get a call or email, or SMS or WhatsApp saying you won a lottery, or prize like a new car, or a scratch card which can get few lakhs of rupees. We can easily identify it’s a lottery scam because of what they do next, they ask you to pay money as advances or might ask you for a differential amount comparing the original cost of the product or request you to pay taxes to be able to get the prize. If you pay, you’ll lose your money and later you will find out there is no prize at all.
Notable Lottery Frauds are (i) Scratch Card Offer (ii) RBI Government Lottery (iii) Kaun Banega Crorepati Lottery (iv) Snap Deal Lottery (v) Euro Lottery (vi) Free Holiday Vouchers (vii) SBI Lottery
Top two signs of a lottery frauds are :
(i) You are asked to pay advances to get your prize.
(ii) You are asked to provide your sensitive personal and financial information
Here is how you are cheated ?
(i) Fraudsters send you a message (via email, or SMS or WhatsApp or social media) to get your personal information
(ii) Fraudsters say they’re from the government lottery agencies (RBI Lottery), they are impersonators.
(iii) Fraudsters pressure you to act immediately to receive the prize, they want you to hurry up and pay the advances or taxes or differential amounts to their personal bank accounts.
(iv) Fraudsters use names of organisations that we are familiar (Kaun Banega Crorepati Lottery, Snap Deal Lottery Etc.)
(v) Fraudsters will do social engineering and make you believe you are the only person who won a prize, but bulk messages are sent to many.
(vi) Fraudsters may call you and say that you have won a foreign lottery (Euro Lottery)
(vii) Fraudsters send you a copy of the cheques / demand drafts and ask you to send some of the money back as processing fee or convenience fee or taxes or differential amounts etc.
Do you have any one to regulate :
Lottery in India is governed by the Lotteries Regulation Act, 1998, as of 2019 lottery in India doesn’t have all India ban but many states including Telangana have banned lotteries except for the 13 states.
Legal online lottery in India is a new concept for example. Lotto India is the legal online lottery in India for the players and has more jackpots.
Besides we have Public Gambling Act of 1867, all forms of gambling are illegal in India. This means that placing bets on your favourite game or a player (both online and offline) is illegal and not allowed.
There are two types of betting games. (a) Game of chance – These are luck-based games (b) Game of skill – These are games that require analytical decision-making, logical thinking, physical ability rather than a choice.
Reserve Bank of India has warned people that deposits of money in any form towards participation in lottery schemes or money circulation schemes for securing prize money or awards is prohibited under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
Tips to safeguard from lottery frauds :
i. Never Click on Short Links sent through Email / SMS
ii. Click on Websites that start with HTTPS:// (Having a Pad Lock Symbol)
iii. Sender is not addressing you by your name
iv. We cannot win money in a lottery or competition unless we have purchased or participated personally.
v. Competitions and lotteries do not require you to pay an advance fee to collect winnings.
vi. Never transfer funds to unknown persons or organisations in anticipation of high returns.
a. Ignore all emails, texts, and social media solicitations on Lotteries.
b. Lottery winning letters have the deadline to claim the prize otherwise it will soon expire.
c. Ignore emails from Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail claiming you have won Lottery
Are you victim of lottery fraud ?
If you are a victim of Lottery Fraud, call 155260 or alternatively log on to www.cybercrime.gov.in and provide information of your Bank statements / Copy of SMS, Email, Courier Received, Fraudsters contact details along with your personal identity details.
