Each person who has been duped by a lottery or sweepstakes scam has incurred a loss of $5,000.00 on average. The scammers are the only ones "winning" in this situation.

Lottery and sweepstakes scams begin with the con-artist contacting you via email, phone, through social media, letter or fax to notify you that you have "won." Money, vacations, and popular consumer electronics are common so-called "prizes."

Pro-tip: There is no possible way to "win" a sweepstakes or lottery if someone hasn't purchased a ticket. No lotteries will call you and tell you that you've won, it just doesn't work that way.

Pro-tip: All genuine lotteries subtract any fees and tax from the prize, so that you don't have to.

Some scammers use social media to hook in their victims. They may claim that a multi-millionaire celebrity like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg are donating a percentage of their company stocks to "10 random Facebook users."

They may even claim that they've won Powerball and are giving away a portion of their winnings at random.

Pro-tip: Never share any personal or banking information with unverified sources. Especially if they are offering "free" money.