NOTICE: If you are concerned that you are being contacted by a lottery scammer, please contact [email protected].
This is a thread intended to share details of individuals known as lottery scammers, who pretend to be a member of a large sweepstakes company in order to swindle you. Most are from Jamaica and are known to be offensive and malicious individuals. See the U.S. Embassy of Jamaica’s Warning about Lottery Scams. Please post any phone numbers, email addresses, or other information you know of here. To learn more about the operation and prevention methods of sweepstakes and lottery scams, particularly Publisher’s Clearing House scams, click here to view the complete scammer.info guide.
Most scammers who practice this form of deception disguise themselves as “Mega Millions”, “Publisher’s Clearing House”, “American Cash Prize Rewards”, “The Federal Reserve”, “Global International Sweepstakes”, “American Senior Giveaway”, among other big names. Be careful!
Signs of the Jamaican Lottery Scam:
- A call, email, or letter in the mail stating that you have won a large sum of money.
- You are asked to purchase a “Registration or Processing Card or Receipt” in the form of a Gift Card (One Vanilla Visa Card, Greendot MoneyPak Card, American Express Card, etc) and provide the numbers from it or the receipt and/or mail it.
- You are asked to pay a fee for registration, processing, taxes, legal, and/or delivery related purposes (Oftentimes via Money Order, Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer, or Cash in the Mail)
- You are contacted by a phone number with an (876) [Jamaican] area code or are receive a message/call from a (516), (917), (929), (347), (646), (518), (702), (716), (406), (585), (800), (866), (877), (888), or other area code number.
- You are asked to provide your banking details, SSN, and/or family/hereditary information (Names, Last Names, DOBs, etc). This is used to hack and withdraw money from your bank account, or use you as a mule.
We encourage you to pretend to be a victim and gain banking/address information or troll these scammers. Here are two soundboards made by @sandbar to help you mess with these guys!
Soundboard #1 [TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE]
Soundboard #2 [TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE]
Luckily, there are forces working to stop these scams, such as the LSTF (Lottery Scam Task Force); and cooperation between local Jamaican authorities and United States federal agencies, such as the FBI to put a halt to these scams.
CNBC’s Brief Video on the Jamaican Lottery Scam
National Geographic Documentary on the Jamaican Lottery Scam
Jamaican Lottery Scammers Being Extradited to the US
