There are many scams in today’s society in which innocent consumers are defrauded. Billions of dollars worldwide have been lost to these scam artists, as the problem has reached epidemic proportions.

One type of scam, better known as an international lottery scam, is typically perpetrated by foreign individuals, often from Canada, who solicit customers in the United States by phone or mail to buy chances in international lotteries. Even though U.S. law prohibits the interstate or international purchase and sale of lottery tickets, many unsuspecting consumers take these scam artists up on their offers, sending money for one or more tickets.

When generally ends up happening is that either the lottery doesn’t exist, the perpetrator never buys the tickets and keeps the ticket money for himself, or if there are actually tickets that were purchased, any winnings go to the scam artist and is never forwarded to the end consumers. The common result in all of these scenarios is that the consumers never win the jackpot. Sometimes, the perpetrators will even commit identity theft by using the customers’ bank account and credit card numbers to withdraw cash, if this information was provided in the initial purchase.

Another way that scammers are bilking consumers out of their money is by sending out fake, official-looking letters from actual lottery organizations such as the Multi-State Lottery Association, which is the group that administers the game Powerball. In some cases, these letters will solicit people to buy “tickets” through the mail. The tickets in question either do not exist, or turn out to be counterfeit, in which case, even if they turn out to be winners, they will not be accepted by the official organization that runs the game. Other times, the letters will inform the recipient that he has won a large jackpot, but in order to claim his winnings, he must provide his bank account information to verify his identity, or to pay a small “transaction fee” to release the money. Consumers are asked to send this fee in the form of a check, or to have it withdrawn from their accounts.

At times, an actual fake, stolen, or forged lottery check is sent out with a letter instructing the recipient to call a certain phone number. Upon reaching the person on the other end of the line, instructions are given to deposit the check, and then wire a substantial portion of the “winnings” to a bank account to pay for taxes or fees. The checks are good enough to fool the consumer’s bank at the outset, and the money is initially made available in the account. It isn’t until after the transaction tries to clear the originating bank, and presumably after the “fee money” has already been wired, that the check turns out to be fake, and the money is then deducted back out of the victim’s account.

There are certain things that one can keep in mind in order to avoid being victimized by one of these scams. For one thing, it is a Federal crime to play a foreign lottery, whether it is by phone or through the mail. Consumers are urged to steer clear of situations like this. Also, a lottery will never ask for your personal information such as your credit card or bank account numbers. And one has to actually buy a ticket to be entered into the drawing. Lotteries amass their huge jackpots through ticket sales, so any lottery that notifies a “winner” who doesn’t even remember entering must be fraudulent. Finally, while lotteries ask that ticket holders pay for their tickets, they will generally not ask for additional transaction fees or taxes up front before releasing the money. By following these guidelines, one can avoid the many scam artists out there looking to bilk him out of his hard-earned money.