Fraud Awareness Month - Won a prize in a lottery you didn't enter? It's a scam

As part of Fraud Awareness Month, the Commerce Commission and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs are warning New Zealand consumers to be on the lookout for lottery and prize scams.

"These scams can look quite professional and people could be easily fooled by them," says Deborah Battell, Director of Fair Trading for the Commerce Commission. "There are, however, a number of things to watch out for."

Targeted consumers usually receive an email or letter, claiming they have won a significant prize in an overseas lottery.

The scams will often have names that are easily confused with legitimate lotteries or competitions. For example, the name of the famous "El Gordo" (the Big One) Spanish lottery is used frequently by scammers, in the hope recipients confuse it with the real thing.

The emails and letters often ask the recipient to contact the overseas sender to arrange for the winnings to be deposited in their account, with the only contact information being a name and a phone number. If they reply, the "lottery operator" will ask first for bank account and identity details.

Once consumers have shown a willingness to provide this information, they may be asked to send money in advance to help pay for administration costs or taxes and the requests go on.

"If the prize or lottery notification has any of the following elements, we strongly suggest you do not respond to it, "says Liz MacPherson, General Manager of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

• You are told you have won a prize but you did not enter any competition run by the prize promoters.
• The mail may be personally addressed to you but it has been posted using bulk mail - thousands of others around the world may have received the exact same notification.
• The prize promoters ask for a fee (for administration or "processing") to be paid in advance.
• The scheme offers bait prizes that, if they are real, are often substandard, over-priced, or falsely represented. Or, as part of the prize you can purchase "exclusive items" which may also be over-priced or substandard.
• To get your prize might require travel overseas at your own cost to receive it.

Prize and lottery scams are arriving in New Zealanders letter boxes and in their emails more and more frequently, with several new versions being reported every week for listing on the Ministry's Scamwatch service.

If consumers receive one of these emails or letters, the Commerce Commission's and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs' advice is to check it, delete it, and destroy it. If the scam is a new one you can also report it.

Consumers should always check www.scamwatch.org.nz to see if the scam is listed. If it is, consumers should delete the email or throw away the letter. If it's not listed, consumers can forward the email to scamwatch or send a copy of the letter to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

Consumers should be aware that any lotteries operating in New Zealand (eg, Lotto) have to be licensed to operate by our own Department of Internal Affairs.

Background

Consumer scams are crimes of dishonesty, such as forgery, counterfeiting, on-line deception, and theft, that target people who seek to purchase goods and services. Potential victims can be those who use computers and the internet, older people, people whose financial situation makes them interested in 'get rich quick schemes', and people who use mobile phones.

Key characteristics for consumers to look out for in identifying a scam include:

• it comes out of the blue
• it sounds like a quick and easy way to make money
• it tells you there is almost no effort or risk
• it asks you to give personal information such as your banking details, and
• it sounds just too good to be true.

As part of a trans-Tasman approach to combat consumer fraud and scams targeted at consumers, the Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce was established in March 2005 and comprises 18 government regulatory agencies and departments in Australia and New Zealand.

Agencies participating in the Taskforce are:

New Zealand Government:

Australian Government:

State and Territory Governments: