Lottery Warns Of Mega Millions Scams As Jackpot Passes $400 Million
BRAINTREE (CBS) – As the Mega Millions jackpot grows and grows, lottery officials are alerting people to be on the lookout for scammers.
A post on the Mega Millions website says there's been a bump in the number of people getting fraudulent phone calls and emails "from Mega Millions" telling them they've struck it rich.
Mega Millions says to ignore anything from "United States National Lottery," "Mega Millions Mobile Lottery," "Mega Millions Corporation" or "Mega Millions International Lottery" because those entities don't exist – they're just scammers trying to make a quick buck.
Officials say that scammers will often try to fool people into thinking they won big, and then get them to wire money for supposed taxes or fees.
Mega Millions is reminding people that they can only win if they bought a ticket, and the lottery rarely has a way of knowing whether someone has a winning ticket or not.