N.J. Lottery Issues Warning About Phone, Email Scams

New Jersey Lottery officials warned residents Tuesday not to be fooled by emails and telephone calls promising lottery winnings. They are scams.

Cash prizes are awarded to players who present a valid, winning lottery ticket.

Scammers instruct someone to provide personal information or wire money to a specific location in order to claim their winnings.

The only time a Lottery official would contact a winner via email, phone, or in writing would be if the player had entered into a New Jersey Lottery second chance drawing promotion. And if they were contacted, personal banking information or a fee would not be required to obtain a prize, officials said.

“People can be enticed into believing that they have won a prize by telephone callers, emails, and letters misrepresenting the Lottery," said Carole Hedinger, New Jersey Lottery executive director.

Some tips to avoid being the victim of such scams include:

• Never provide a credit card number, password, personal banking information, money orders, or checks to anyone promising lottery winnings.
• Look out for the latest lottery promotions at retailers and online at njlottery.com.
• Only buy lottery tickets from an authorized retailer. Visit njlottery.com to find local reatilers.
• Never redeem a lottery ticket for someone else.

If someone does receive a suspicious call or email from someone claiming they have won something, that person should call the New Jersey Lottery security office at 609-599-6100.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com. Sign up for Patch N.J. email newsletters here.

Patch file photo