Prize Sweepstakes & Lottery Scams

You’ve won a prize—but first you must pay a tax, processing fee, insurance charge, or delivery cost. Is it real?

Prize, Sweepstakes & Lottery Scams explains why legitimate winnings should never require an upfront payment and shows how criminals use excitement, urgency, secrecy, and familiar names to make fake prizes sound convincing.

Inside this practical guide, you’ll learn how to:

• Recognize fake Publishers Clearing House, lottery, celebrity giveaway, and government-supervised prize claims

• Spot demands involving gift cards, cryptocurrency, wire transfers, cash, and payment apps

• Understand how counterfeit checks create a misleading bank balance

• Verify a prize without using the caller’s telephone number, website, or instructions

• Help a parent, spouse, or friend without causing shame or defensiveness

• Respond quickly after money or personal information has been sent

• Avoid recovery scammers who promise to retrieve stolen money for another fee

• Preserve evidence and report the fraud through appropriate official channels

The guide also includes a prize-verification worksheet, payment and evidence log, first-hour response record, household prevention rules, and trusted government resources.

The most important rule is simple: if you must pay to receive your winnings, stop. You are not collecting a prize—you are being asked to finance a scam.