Latvian Consumers Warned by Regulator Over Rogue Lotteries

The Latvian gambling regulator has issued a warning to customers about sham lotteries operating in the country. The Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection (IAUI) has cautioned any customer who is considering taking part to fully check out the operator online before parting with any cash.

Many of these rogue operators contact customers to claim they have winnings to pay out, and the Latvian regulator is keen to prevent unsuspecting individuals from handing over sensitive information.

Red flags to look out for

The IAUI has admitted that it is very hard to spot a fake lottery operator for certain as many do an excellent job as masquerading as the real deal. However by exercising caution and being watchful the regulator believes that it’s possible to avoid falling into their trap.

Before buying tickets, Latvian consumers should research the company to see if there is any evidence that they are running a legitimate lottery. No money should be handed over if there is no proof that the lottery operate is genuine with a proven track record.

It’s not just the purchase of the tickets that is a problem however as many rogue lottery providers are contacting consumers to tell them of a “win”. The IAUI said any email about a win for a lottery that players don’t remember entering should be viewed with extreme caution.

Fraudsters commonly make contact by telephone as well as by email. The lucky “winner” will be asked to cover the costs of opening an account and transferring the winnings. They are usually also told that they’ll need to pay tax on their windfall.

The regulator said that when contact is made through a public email server such as hotmail and gmail, there is a much higher risk that the email could be a fake. Other tell-tale signs include spelling or grammatical mistakes in the Latvian language; this suggests that a bot is responsible the correspondence and is once again, a scam.

Any individual who has taken part in a lottery and believes that the communication could be genuine should look for confirmation in the details provided. In cases where the winner is legitimate, the operator should provide the name of the individual and the winning ticket number in its response. The player can then check this information against their own ticket to verify the authenticity.

IAUI warned that no reputable lottery would ask for taxes or any other form of payment in order to pay out the winnings. Therefore any company that does should be treated as potentially suspicious.