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Foreign Lottery Scams

You hear the state lottery jingle on the radio. The jackpot has been raised to $10 million dollars. You've got lotto fever. The next thing you know there's a brochure in your mail urging you to participate in a lottery in Canada or other foreign country, via convenient mail-order purchase of lottery tickets, or through a share in a pool of foreign lottery tickets. The soliciting company promises unbelievable odds and high winnings. You say to yourself, "Why not do it?" According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, thousands of U.S. citizens have been bilked out of millions of dollars for fraudulent foreign lottery purchases. To protect yourself, the Better Business Bureau recommends that you know the facts.

Purchasing foreign lotteries are illegal. United States federal law prohibits mailing payments to purchase any ticket, share, or chance in a foreign lottery. Most foreign lottery solicitations sent to addressees in the United States do not come from foreign government agencies or licensees. Instead, they come from fraudulent companies that seek exorbitant fees from those wishing to play. The activities of these companies are neither controlled nor monitored by the government of the country in which they are located.

Typically, those who pay the required fees never see any lottery tickets or any other evidence that lottery tickets were purchased on their behalf. In some cases, the soliciting company uses high pressure telemarketing techniques to obtain credit card account numbers. Once they have the numbers, repeated unauthorized transactions are made to the accounts.

As a general proposition, sending lottery material through the mail is prohibited by federal law. This material includes letters and circulars concerning a lottery, tickets or any paper claiming to represent tickets in a lottery, and payments to purchase such tickets.

If you receive a mailed lottery solicitation that you think may be illegal, contact your local Better Business Bureau and turn the entire mail piece over to your local postmaster or to the nearest postal inspector. Keep in mind, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

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