Real Charity Raffle vs Fake Prize Draw
Distinguish a genuine charity raffle or prize draw from a fake draw designed to collect personal data or fees.
Last reviewed: 1 June 2026
Charity raffles and brand prize draws are legitimate, common, and well regulated. A genuine one is something you remember entering, because you bought a ticket or filled in a promotion, and the organiser publishes results and provides a licence or charity registration number you can look up yourself. Winners are never asked for money. Fake prize draws are convincing because winning feels just plausible enough not to question, because the fee is always small next to the prize, and because the vocabulary used, whether tax, processing, or insurance, sounds like the kind of official friction real life is full of. The distinction to remember is that a legitimate prize costs the winner nothing. If money has to travel from you before the prize travels to you, there is no prize.
Side-by-side comparison
| Real charity raffle | Fake prize draw | |
|---|---|---|
| Regulation | Registered with the Gambling Commission or run under a lottery exemption; charity registered with the Charity Commission | No gambling licence or charity registration number provided |
| Entry cost | Clear ticket price or free entry option by post; no additional fees | Low entry fee followed by 'tax', 'processing', or 'release' charges to claim a prize |
| Prize claim | Prize is sent or collected with no fees due from the winner | Winner must pay upfront to 'release' or 'insure' the prize |
| Contact | Initiated by you; draw results published openly | Unsolicited notification that you have won a draw you didn't enter |
| Data use | Privacy policy visible; data used only for the draw | No privacy policy; data harvested for marketing or sold |
Common red flags
- Notification of winning a draw you didn't enter
- Fee required to 'claim' or 'release' your prize
- No Gambling Commission licence number or charity registration
- Urgency threatening prize forfeiture within hours
- Request for card details to pay a 'tax' or 'processing' fee on winnings
Verification steps
- Check the charity on the Charity Commission register (charitycommission.gov.uk)
- Check lottery or raffle licences on the Gambling Commission register
- Never pay a fee to claim a prize you have genuinely won
- Search the draw name online to check for scam reports
What not to do
- Don't pay any fee to claim a prize
- Don't provide card details to receive winnings
- Don't respond to winning notifications for draws you didn't enter
A safe response
There is no rush, because a real prize will not evaporate. If you do not remember entering, you did not win, and deleting the message is a complete response. If you did enter something, do not use the contact details in the message. Look up the charity on the Charity Commission register or the operator's licence on the Gambling Commission register, then contact the organiser through the details on their own website. Never pay a fee or hand over card details to receive winnings. If you have already paid, tell your bank, report it to Action Fraud, and expect further approaches, because people who pay once are contacted again.
Frequently asked questions
They say the fee is tax on the winnings. Is that ever how prize tax works?
No. Where tax applies to a prize, it is settled through the tax authority afterwards or handled by the promoter, never collected in advance by the organiser as a condition of release. Tax authorities do not take payment by transfer to a private account, gift cards, or cryptocurrency. Treat any request to pay before receiving a prize as the scam itself, whatever it is called, and check the operator on the relevant public register.
I paid a claim fee and now they are asking for more. What should I do?
Stop paying and stop replying. Additional fees always follow the first one, because each payment is framed as the last obstacle. Contact your bank immediately, report it to Action Fraud, and keep the messages and payment references. Expect follow-up contact, sometimes from people offering to recover your money for a fee, which is a second scam aimed at the same list. Any genuine recovery route goes through your bank or the police, never through a cold caller.
Do real prize draws or raffles ever ask winners to pay a fee?
No. A genuine prize is delivered or collected at no cost to the winner. Any request for a fee to claim or release a prize is the defining characteristic of a prize scam.