Beware of this latest New Jersey Lottery scam

If you're thinking of trying your luck at the lottery be aware of a scam that has been reported from a fraudulent phone call originating in New Jersey.

New Jersey Lottery Acting Executive Director, John White says a concerned citizen from West Virginia received a phone call from someone in Jersey advising he won the Mega Millions lottery and a 2018 Mercedes. The caller then instructed the recipient to mail a $450 "claim fee" in order to receive the prizes.

White says the recipient immediately hung up the phone and called the NJ Lottery to report the event.

White says a prize winner would never be asked to pay a fee or provide any personal financial banking information to obtain a prize.

He says 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 an authorized New Jersey Lottery second-chance drawing promotion such as Million Dollar Replay.

"The player would have to first be entering information on our website and if they were to get a call from that, they wouldn't be surprised because they know they enrolled in the program," says White.

He says other states that sell Mega Millions tickets have been alerted to the scam. White says the New Jersey Lottery has received a lot of "thank yous" from these lottery directors and know now to be more vigilant.

White says if you do receive a call asking you to submit money to claim a lottery prize, you should call the lottery's security office at 609-599-6100.