Is a winning lottery letter for a lottery I didn't enter real?
No. You cannot win a lottery you didn't enter. Letters, emails, or calls claiming otherwise are prize-notification scams designed to collect fees or your personal details.
Last reviewed: 1 June 2026
Explanation
Prize-notification scams arrive by post, email, text, or phone and inform you that you have won a large cash prize, car, or holiday in a lottery or sweepstake you have no memory of entering. To claim, you are asked to pay taxes, legal fees, or administration costs upfront — or to provide your bank details for 'transfer processing'.
The prize does not exist. Every payment made produces another invented fee, and the process continues until you stop engaging. In addition to financial loss, providing personal details can lead to identity theft. No legitimate lottery requires winners to pay fees before receiving a prize, and all genuine lotteries require you to have purchased a ticket.
Common red flags
- You are told you have won a lottery or sweepstake you didn't enter
- Upfront fee required to release your winnings
- Request for banking details to 'transfer' the prize
- Urgency — 'claim within 72 hours or forfeit the prize'
- Notice arrives by email, text, or social media rather than through the official lottery
- Lottery or organisation name cannot be independently verified
What to do now
- Do not pay any fee or provide banking details
- Verify any named organisation through official registries independently
- Report the notice to your national fraud service and delete or discard it
- Block and report the sender
- If you already paid, contact your bank and report the fraud
Frequently asked questions
Could I have been entered into a lottery without knowing?
Some promotional sweepstakes enter participants automatically when they use a product or service. However, legitimate wins are communicated through official channels and never require upfront fees to claim a prize.
The letter looks very official and uses a real organisation's name. How do I verify?
Contact the named organisation directly using a phone number or email from its official website — not from the letter. Any genuine prize will be verifiable through that channel.