You have heard your Better Business Bureau warn you about sweepstakes scams and the red flags to look for that would tip you off. One of the first warning signs: it comes from a foreign country - like this one a consumer sent to your BBB.
It says it's from the International Lotto commission. It congratulates the recipient for having the winning numbers in the latest Spanish Sweepstakes drawing. The prize? $1.2 million dollars.
The consumer never entered this. That's red flag #2. You can't win what you did not enter.
More suspiciously, the letter warns the "winner" to keep this 'confidential. A legitimate sweepstakes would want you to tell everyone. Only someone trying to scam you would tell you to keep quiet-because they're afraid you'll find out it's a scam.
Now you might be saying, "the BBB always warns that it's a scam if it asks me to send money before getting my prize…this one does not." But look more closely.
It states that 5% of the winnings will go to your agent as a fee for services after your funds have been sent to the account you designate. Since this asks for a bank account number to deposit these so-called "winnings" into, that's the scam…they could easily clean out your account.
