Hello and thank you for your question, which I will be happy to assist you with.

This is a scam. Such types of scams, also known as ‘advance-fee fraud’ are unfortunately extremely common these days and many unsuspecting victims fall for them.

The best way to spot these is by identifying certain 'red flags' that are almost always present. The following are the most common hallmarks of such scams:

• You are contacted, usually out of the blue and promised a large return or reward. You are unlikely to have ever heard of or been involved with the persons/organisations concerned. The Department of Finance will most certainly not get involved with anything like this
• Before the reward materializes, you are asked to pay a sum of money for various reasons, usually as a clearance fee, administrative costs, taxes, etc. This is the advance-fee part of the scam and often such payments are never required in the circumstances, or even by law.
• Tempted by the potential return, you send the money in good faith. The usual request is for the money to be sent via some dubious methods (e.g. Western Union, Moneygram, prepaid cards, etc). These are the favoured payment platforms for fraudsters as it is extremely difficult to trace the recipients of payments and also easy to hide behind a fake identity.
• Once the money has been sent, the fraudster either stops all contact and the reward never materializes, or they return and ask for further payments due to new unsuspected issues that have arisen since the last payment. Unfortunately, many victims fall for this trick again and continue to send payments until they have realised this is a scam, when it is often too late.

If you were due to pay any money or send further information, DO NOT do so. Cease all contact with the other party and do not communicate further with them.

Not at all, The Dept of Finance in New York will have absolutely nothing to do with a European lottery, also you would not be asked to pay anything in advance to get your winnings