Inheritance and Lottery Scams via Bank Transfer
Fraudsters fabricate inheritance or lottery windfalls and demand domestic bank transfers as advance fees, framing the payment as a routine banking formality.
Part of: Inheritance Lottery Scams
Last reviewed: 1 June 2026
Domestic bank transfers feel more familiar and less alarming than international wires, which is why scammers adapted the inheritance and lottery advance fee format for standard bank-to-bank payments in countries where online banking is ubiquitous. The instruction to transfer funds feels like paying a utility bill rather than a risky financial decision.
In the United Kingdom and Australia in particular, authorised push payment fraud — where victims are tricked into willing transfers — has caused significant losses via domestic bank transfers in exactly this type of scenario.
How this scam works on bank transfer
A victim is contacted by email or telephone and informed they are a beneficiary of an estate or the winner of a company prize draw. To release the funds, they must make a series of bank transfers to accounts described as solicitor client accounts or lottery fund accounts. Each transfer is for a plausible amount — hundreds rather than thousands — to avoid triggering fraud prevention systems.
In domestic variants, scammers provide local bank account numbers and sort codes that may belong to money mule accounts recruited through separate fraud chains. The victim's bank sees what appears to be a normal domestic transfer.
Banks increasingly flag unusual outgoing transfers and call customers. Scammers counter this by coaching victims on what to say: the transfer is for a personal investment, a property purchase, or a gift — minimising the chance that the bank's fraud team intervenes.
Common red flags
- Prize or inheritance requires series of bank transfers as release fees
- Account details provided are personal accounts, not recognisable institutional accounts
- You are coached on how to describe the transfer to your bank
- Multiple transfers are demanded at separate times rather than a single documented fee
- Pressure to act before your bank closes for the day
- No verifiable public record of the lottery or estate that matches the claim
How to protect yourself
- Tell your bank the honest reason for any transfer — their fraud systems are designed to protect you
- Do not transfer money to release a prize or inheritance; all legitimate fees come from the estate or prize fund
- Check the account number provided against your country's bank account fraud reporting database
- Pause if the prize story cannot be verified through independently searchable public information
- If your bank raises concerns, take those seriously rather than dismissing them to proceed with the transfer
- Report the contact and account details so the mule account can be flagged
How to report it
- Report to your bank's fraud department immediately, providing the account number and transfer details
- Submit a report to your national fraud reporting body such as Action Fraud in the UK
- Contact the receiving bank directly via official channels to report a mule account
Frequently asked questions
What is a money mule and how does it relate to this scam?
A money mule is a person — often recruited unknowingly through a fake job offer — whose bank account is used to receive and forward fraud proceeds. When you make a bank transfer to what appears to be a solicitor account, it may actually be a mule account that immediately forwards your money to the scammer abroad.