A lottery scam is a type of advance-fee fraud which begins with an unexpected email notification that "You have won!" a large sum of money in a lottery. The recipient of the message — the target of the scam — is usually told to keep the notice secret, "due to a mix-up in some of the names and numbers," and to contact a "claims agent." After contacting the agent, the target of the scam will be asked to pay "processing fees" or "transfer charges" so that the winnings can be distributed, but will never receive any lottery payment. Many email lottery scams use the names of legitimate lottery organizations or other legitimate corporations/companies, but this does not mean the legitimate organizations are in any way involved with the scams.
Read more about Lottery Scam: Identification, Mis-selling By Lottery "win", Blackmail Variation
Famous quotes containing the word lottery:
“I think people really marry far too much; it is such a lottery after all, and for a poor woman a very doubtful happiness.”
—Victoria (1819–1901)