Is There a Facebook Lottery?
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What the fact-checkers found
Question from Reader:
I got a message stating that I’ve won a large prize in the Facebook Lottery and should contact the lottery agent to claim my prize. Is this real?
Answer
No. There is no such thing as a Facebook Lottery. Messages that claim that you have won a Facebook Lottery are advance fee scams designed to trick you into sending your money and personal information to Internet criminals.
The criminals may also refer to these bogus promotions as Facebook Sweepstakes, Facebook Grants and other similar names.
In some cases, the criminals may send out the ‘winning notification’ messages from cloned or hijacked Facebook accounts so that the messages seem to come from people you know.
If you receive one of these fake Facebook prize messages, do not reply and do not click any links that it contains.
Sources and references
- 1
Facebook Lottery Scams Still Claiming Victims
- 2
Advance Fee Lottery Scams – International Lottery Scam Information
- 3
Advance Fee Scammers Using Cloned FB Accounts To Gain Victims
- 4
‘Facebook Online International Lottery’ Advance Fee Scam
- 5
Facebook Sweepstakes Advance Fee Scam
- 6
Facebook Grant Award Advance Fee Scam
- 7
‘Freedom Award Lottery Promotion Agency’ Facebook Page Scam
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