Online Lottery Tickets
Avoid Lottery Scams
Attempts to deceive people, especially
Internet users, into believing that they have won a Play online
lottery prize are now
commonplace. Scammers are looking for sensitive personal information such as a
your name, address, phone number, date of birth, Social Security number, bank
or credit card account number and ultimately - your money in the effort to
defraud you.
- If you receive a "winning
notification" by mail or email that you are a Georgia Lottery or Mega
Millions prize winner: The
Georgia Lottery only issues winning notifications via email to members of
the Players Club who have opted in to receive win and payment alerts for
Georgia Lottery purchases made using their iHOPEcard account. The Georgia
Lottery will only send a win and payment email when a prize has been won
from a purchase made online using an iHOPEcard account. All win and
payment emails from the Georgia Lottery are sent from; if you receive a
winning notification from any other email address, it is a fraud. The
Georgia Lottery does not send out winning notifications via postal mail.
Unless you specifically entered a second chance drawing from the Georgia
Lottery, there is no other circumstance where you will be contacted by us
informing you that you've won a prize.
- If you receive a check with
directions to cash and return a portion of the cash, do not respond. The check is not valid and will be returned for
insufficient funds. No legitimate Play lottery
online will ever send you this type
of communication.
- Do not be fooled into providing
personal information to scammers. Scammers
often provide Internet-based claim forms or request personal information
over the phone, such as credit card or bank account information.
- If you are requested to pay a
fee before winnings can be released to you, this is a fraud. Never send money. A legitimate lottery will never
require you to pay money for advanced fees to cover expenses associated
with the delivery of "winning prizes."
- Never redeem a Lottery ticket
for someone you do not know. Never
pay cash to someone offering to sell a "winning ticket."
- Never accept a collect phone
call from someone claiming to be a Lottery official.
- Only purchase Georgia Lottery
tickets from one of over 8,700 official Georgia Lottery retailers located
in the state of Georgia.
- If you feel you have been a
victim of fraud you should: Read
the information and tips put out by the Federal Trade Commission about
scams. Forward the suspicious email to the Federal Trade Commission's
address for unsolicited commercial . Notify the Internet Crime
Complaint Center (IC3) of the FBI by filing a complaint on their
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