Woman falls victim to lottery scam in Newark, NJ

💲 Lottery scam costs Newark woman

💲 Victim was approached outside a bank

💲 Tip to avoid lottery scams in New Jersey

NEWARK - Police are warning about a lottery scam after a woman was taken for nearly $400 outside a local bank branch.

Newark police say the victim was at the Citizen Bank branch on Lafayette Street (formerly an Investors Bank Branch).

The woman claims she was approached by two men who claimed they recently won the lottery.

They were having trouble claiming the money, the two said, and begged her to help them.

She was convinced to help them and withdrew $385 dollars from the bank and gave it to the suspects.

Police say they took the money and ran away.

The victim, now suspicious, went back into the bank and reported the incident to bank employees who then called police.

The money is gone, but the woman was uninjured.

If you know anything about the incident, please contact Newark Police.

New take, old scam

This lottery scam is not a new one, but it typically is conducted with a phone call or through email or text phishing.

One version has the scammer claiming he won the lottery but needs money to claim the big prize. He will offer to share the prize with you if you front him the money to claim it.

The other version claims that you have won a lottery prize but need to pay a processing fee before you claim it.

Often the victim is instructed to wire money, but gift cards or provide cash.

The New Jersey Lottery continues to fight scams

Con artists prey on a person's dreams of winning it big and these scams can be very effective, especially among the elderly.

The New Jersey Lottery warns: Never respond to these communications and never provide information or send money to a scammer.

Warning signs you are being played by a scammer

✔ The New Jersey Lottery does NOT know who the winners are until they come forward with a winning ticket.
✔ The New Jersey Lottery NEVER requires the payment of any money in order to claim a prize. This includes sweepstakes and second chance opportunities
✔ No one should ever send any money to pay a ‘processing fee’ or any another requested fee in order to claim a prize
✔ Never deposit any check sent to you that is accompanied by a request that you send or wire money to cover processing or claiming fees. The check that you’ve received is fraudulent and will bounce
✔ Never provide any personal or financial information to a scammer, especially Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers

Consumers should report any scam or scam attempt

Report any attempted scam to the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-FTC-HELP or at the FTC Consumer Information website.

Contact the New Jersey Lottery's Security Unit immediately at 609-599-6100.

The lottery asks that you submit to them any scam material you have received, along with as many details as possible (i.e. instructions, your contact information, etc.).

You can forward this information to the Security Unit by email:(publicinfo@lottery.state.nj.us).

The New Jersey Lottery says they take "these lottery scams very seriously and looks into each particular scam in great detail."

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