TRENTON (July 6, 2018) – New Jersey Lottery Acting Executive Director John M. White has issued a warning to the public informing them that a lottery scam has been reported from a fraudulent telephone call originating in New Jersey. The caller advised that the telephone recipient has won a Mega Millions Lottery prize and a 2018 Mercedes, requiring the mailing of a $450.00 “claim fee” to a local address. This is a scam. Players should not respond!

New Jersey Lottery prizes are awarded to players once an authentic, validated, winning New Jersey Lottery ticket is presented for claim. The only time a Lottery official may contact a player via email, phone or letter announcing a prize win would be if the player had actively entered into an authorized New Jersey Lottery second chance drawing promotion. Even still, the prizewinner would never be asked to pay a fee or provide any personal financial banking information to obtain the prize.

“Lottery scams are nothing new,” White said. “Through social media channels, telephone calls or email and letter messages misrepresenting the Lottery, people can be enticed into believing that they have won a prize. We are alerting the public to be on the look-out for these type fraudulent messages with such false claims.”

If in doubt after receiving any type of notification, residents are encouraged to call the Lottery Security Office at 609-599-6100 for verification.

The New Jersey Lottery provides some simple tips for players, retailers and the general public to protect themselves against scams.

1. NEVER provide your credit card number, personal or financial information, passwords, transfer funds or cash, money orders or checks to anyone promising lottery winnings.
2. Monitor the Lottery’s website (www.njlottery.com) and retailer locations for the most current New Jersey Lottery promotions, winning numbers and instant tickets.
3. If approached by someone promising you lottery winnings or offering a winning lottery ticket for cash, immediately call the New Jersey Lottery Security Office.
4. Only buy lottery tickets from one of the more than 7,200 authorized New Jersey Lottery retailers throughout the State. Follow this link on the NJ Lottery website to locate your closest retailer https://www.njlottery.com/en-us/retailer/findretailer.html.
5. Never redeem a Lottery ticket for someone other than yourself.