Hi Jacustomer,

When you talk to these folks, (Don't, it's a scam), they will only ask you for money. Don't send it.. You never have to pre-pay anything in order to get your wiinnings in a legitimate contest. Having to pay an up front fee is the biggest tell-tale sign of an advance fee contest fraud.

They will claim that they need it for insurance, or courier fees, transfer fees or what have you, but it doesn't matter. It's a fraud. Any legitimate contest will take all transfer expenses out of your actual winnings and send you the rest of it free and clear, with no strings attached. The only reason for you to send money to them first is that they have none to send you. They are crooks. You can look up the Mega Million Sweepstakes and find other people who got the same or similar offer and who wrote up scam reports. (See link)

In a variation of this same fraud, instead of asking you to wire them money, they may tell you that you are going to get a check and when you do, you are going to need to activate it by depositing it in your account and then wiring them money for the processing fees. Comes down to the same thing. The only reason for that extra step is because they have no money at all for you. The only money they have is what you will allow them to steal.

Here are some other things you should know about lottery and sweepstakes scams:

-- If you never bought a lottery or sweepstakes ticket or entered a contest in the first place, there's no way you can win it. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

-- Lotteries and sweepstakes are very different kinds of contests with very different entry requirement. If a contest is a lottery, it can't be a sweepstakes too. If it's a sweepstakes, it can't be a lottery. There is no such thing as a Lottery Sweepstakes. It is impossible and always a scam.

-- No legitimate lottery makes you pay them anything up front in order for you to collect your winnings. If there are any real transfer costs, a legitimate business will deduct them from your winnings and send you the rest free and clear. No charge. No partial payment send some back. What you win you get without having to send in a dime.

-- Any unsolicited offer asking you to send money by wire outside of the country is a fraud.

Finally, if you received one mailing like this, you will likely get more. Read this page carefully. It will help you not to lose your money to unscrupulous scammers. It has a pretty complete overview of how these contest scams work.

If you have already sent them money and you think that tomorrow someone is going to show up with millions of dollars, think again. Then call your local police to report the fraud and the FBI, online at IC3.gov.