Although this type of scam is usually carried out by email, attempts by text message or by post have increased in recent years.
The scammers generally aim to arouse the victim's interest by offering initiatives, winnings or large investments in order to obtain personal information or money from the victim.
There are often processing fees that must be paid into an account before the promised amount can be received. Obviously, the victim will never see the initial investment again, or the promised windfall.
In other instances, the perpetrators of these scams send you a link you must open to claim your winnings by entering your personal data into an online form. However, microscopic text at the bottom of the form states that you have signed a subscription and that a certain amount of money will be taken automatically from your account.
Preventive advice:
- Consider whether you have participated in a lottery at all, even if the prospect of a larger sum of money seems tempting.
- As a matter of principle, question messages from people or companies that are unknown to you.
- Look out for suspicious e-mail addresses that do not match the company or society you are dealing with.
- If necessary, check whether the listed company or firm exists at all.
- Spelling and translation errors, different languages within a letter, errors in the text format and addresses of free e-mail services can be a sign of a fraud attempt.
- Never transmit personal data by e-mail, text message or telephone.
