You receive an email from an overseas lottery or sweepstakes company. Apparently you have won a lot of money or a fantastic prize in a lottery or competition you did not enter.

It may appear to have the name of a real overseas lottery, like Loteria Primitiva or El Gordo. So you look it up and think 'this is real.'

The lottery may appear to be real, but your win is not. There are no lotteries that give out winnings to people who do not buy tickets. It doesn't happen.

Instead, the scammers will put you under time pressure, saying 'respond quickly, do not miss out', so you do not have time to think it through.

You will also be asked to keep your win private and confidential, so you do not risk losing the prize to someone else. That is to stop you seeking advice.

The next step is to get your money. To unlock the prize or reward you will need to pay something: administration or insurance costs, government taxes, bank fees or courier charges.

Don't pay. You will never see your money again and the scammers will keep coming up with new fees until you run out of money or say 'enough'.

Alternatively, you may be asked to verify your identity, using personal and financial details that scammers can use to run up debts in your name.

The scammers may actually send a cheque as part of your winnings. That cheque will be worthless, but scammers hope you will send money before you discover the truth.

If you try to get your money back, the scammers will be untraceable. They will probably not include more than a post office box number, mobile phone number or email address in their emails.

They will try to make the offer look legitimate with statements about the scheme being legal and government-approved.

Remember: no lotteries or competitions give money or prizes to people who did not enter or buy a ticket. Why would they?  The golden rule is. If it is too good to be true it probably is a scam.

This is like a lottery scam, but a prize is involved. It may be a real prize, but the costs of claiming it far outweigh its value.

'Prize' scammers can rip you off in a number of ways:

• they do not send the prize
• the prize is not what you expected
• you have to call expensive premium (0900) phone lines to claim your prize.

Don't send any money, pay any fee or provide any bank account details in response to unexpected prize or lottery winnings claims.

Never reply to an unsolicited email from an overseas or unknown source, even to 'unsubscribe'. Do not click on links or call telephone numbers. You could have your money and identity stolen, or you could expose your computer to spyware that can identify your bank details and passwords.

Pay attention to dialling codes for phone calls and text messages. Scammers can set up 0900 or overseas premium rate phone numbers that are expensive to call. With premium rate text messages, you can even be charged for messages you receive.

Lotteries in New Zealand

Lotteries in New Zealand (eg, Lotto) have to be licensed to operate by our own Department of Internal Affairs. For more information about gaming laws in New Zealand visit the Department of Internal Affairs website.

Interactive Scam Guides

For more information regarding prize and lottery scams visit the Office of Fair Trading United Kingdom website. Their interactive scam guides [external website] give examples of the tricks used by scammers when they send scam letters through the post.

Check the links below to open text only versions in pdf format.

• lottery letter scam
• prize draw scam

If you have received this kind of scam letter, please share your story here. We will treat your email in the strictest confidence and remove your personal details before posting your story on our site.

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