Deepak Gupta

Prize, fee, and payment tricks · Also called fake lottery win, sweepstakes scam, prize notification scam, foreign lottery scam

Lottery, sweepstakes, and prize scam

A lottery or sweepstakes scam is a call, letter, or message saying you have won a prize, often in a draw you never entered. To collect it you must first pay taxes, fees, or shipping charges, or share your financial details. Real prizes are free, so the payment goes straight to the scammer.

How it works

The scammer calls, texts, emails, or writes to say you have won a lottery, sweepstakes, car, or cash prize.
They may use a well-known company name or an official-sounding body such as a national sweepstakes bureau.
To release the prize you are asked to pay taxes, processing, or delivery fees, or to give your bank details.
Some send a check for part of the winnings and ask you to send back the fees, but the check later bounces.

Red flags

You have won a prize in a lottery or contest you do not remember entering.
You must pay a fee, tax, or shipping charge to collect your winnings.
You are asked to pay by wire transfer, payment app, cash, gift card, or cryptocurrency.
The message is about a foreign lottery, or presses you to act now before the prize is lost.

If you are targeted

Stop contact: do not pay, and do not give your bank or personal details.
If you paid, contact your bank, payment app, or gift card company straight away and ask for your money back.
If you deposited a check from the prize company, tell your bank before you spend or send any of it.
Report it. Our Report a scam page lists where to report in your country, such as ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US.
If the prize notice came by mail, you can also report it to the US Postal Inspection Service.

Where to report, by country

Prevention

For individuals

Remember the FTC's rule: if you have to pay to get a prize, it is a scam. Real prizes are free.
Ignore messages about foreign lotteries. The FTC says it is illegal for US citizens to play foreign lotteries.
Search the company name with words like review, complaint, or scam before you respond to any prize notice.

For organisations

Gift card sellers and money transfer services can warn buyers that paying fees to claim a prize is a sign of a scam.

By the numbers

Figures are for the reporting category this scam falls under, not this scam alone.

Lottery, sweepstakes, and inheritance losses reported to the FBI IC3 in 2025

$194.1M

US, 2025, FBI IC3

Real cases

No documented case in the atlas yet. New cases are added as they are sourced.

Delivered through: Voice phishing (vishing), Email phishing, SMS phishing (smishing)

How official datasets classify it

FBI IC3: Lottery/Sweepstakes/Inheritance
FTC: Prizes, Sweepstakes & Lotteries
UK Finance: Advance fee scam
Scamwatch: Unexpected money scams

Questions

Do I have to pay taxes or fees to claim a prize?: Not to the prize company. The FTC says that if you have to pay to get a prize, it is a scam, because real prizes are free.
How do I know if a sweepstakes win is real?: Be suspicious if you never entered, if you must pay anything, or if you are asked for financial details. Look the company up yourself and do not use the contact details in the message.