National Consumer Protection Week (NCPW) is March 1 - 7, a time to help people understand their consumer rights and make well-informed decisions about money.
Have you received a call from someone claiming to be from a government agency about a sweepstakes prize? Don’t take the bait – these are scammers attempting to make you their latest victim!
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is aware of several imposter scams where scammers
pretend to be calling from government consumer protection agencies. After
they’ve won your trust through this impersonation, scammers will direct you to
a fake website where — in order to claim your thousands of dollars of prize
money — you are instructed to provide personal information to verify your
identity or payment information. Do not provide this information. Sweepstakes
and lotteries do not require winners to provide personal information or payment
information to claim a legitimate prize, and government agencies do not
participate in nor are they affiliated with sweepstakes or other prizes.
This is a hybrid of two classic scams: prize scams and government imposter scams. But these scammers
have gotten more sophisticated, creating websites that look real to the ordinary
consumer and providing consumers with fake phone numbers and/or messages with
an agency’s seal.
The easiest way to avoid becoming the latest victim of any scam is to ignore the message entirely. Do not respond, and do not provide your personal information or payment information.
If the prize seems legitimate, ask yourself the following four questions:
1. Did you enter this lottery? If you do not remember entering a lottery—especially one operated in a foreign country—it is probably a scam.
2. Does claiming the prize require providing personal information or payment information? This is the biggest red flag that the prize is not legitimate, especially if the sweepstakes or lottery tells you that payment will increase your likelihood of winning.
3. Is the prize announcer directing you to a website or providing you contact information that differs from actual government resources? Never click on any links in emails. Always do your own research and only go to websites you can verify are real. Government websites usually will end in “.gov."
4. Is the prize announcer claiming to be from a consumer protection agency? Neither the federal nor state consumer protection agencies give, certify, or verify prizes of any kind.
If you believe you have been contacted by a prize scam, contact the Office of the Attorney General at (202) 442-9828 or at consumer.protection@dc.gov.
Source: Office of the Attorney General
The easiest way to avoid becoming the latest victim of any scam is to ignore the message entirely. Do not respond, and do not provide your personal information or payment information.
If the prize seems legitimate, ask yourself the following four questions:
1. Did you enter this lottery? If you do not remember entering a lottery—especially one operated in a foreign country—it is probably a scam.
2. Does claiming the prize require providing personal information or payment information? This is the biggest red flag that the prize is not legitimate, especially if the sweepstakes or lottery tells you that payment will increase your likelihood of winning.
3. Is the prize announcer directing you to a website or providing you contact information that differs from actual government resources? Never click on any links in emails. Always do your own research and only go to websites you can verify are real. Government websites usually will end in “.gov."
4. Is the prize announcer claiming to be from a consumer protection agency? Neither the federal nor state consumer protection agencies give, certify, or verify prizes of any kind.
If you believe you have been contacted by a prize scam, contact the Office of the Attorney General at (202) 442-9828 or at consumer.protection@dc.gov.
Source: Office of the Attorney General
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