RALEIGH, N.C. — Fake scratch off tickets? Yes, it’s happening, and people are buying them. That’s why the North Carolina Education Lottery is issuing a warning about the scam.
Lottery officials said they’ve received 13 reports so far of scratch-off tickets that are altered and appear as “winning tickets.”
The scam involves non-winning scratch-off tickets that are altered to make them appear to have matching numbers that win a prize. However, when a person who thinks they’ve won takes the ticket to a retailer they find out instead they were scammed.
The North Carolina Education Lottery says you should buy a lottery ticket only from an authorized lottery retailer.
“This scam is easy to avoid by only buying unscratched lottery tickets from an authorized lottery retailer,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the lottery. “If someone offers to sell you a prize-winning ticket for much less than it is worth, that’s a big red flag. Don’t fall for these made-up stories about why someone can’t claim a prize. You’ll end up as a loser instead of a winner.”
Ways To Protect Yourself:
- Only buying unscratched lottery tickets from authorized lottery retailers for the cost of the ticket.
- Never paying anyone for a “winning ticket.”
- Not believing someone who claims they can’t claim a prize because they are out-of-state or they are not a U.S. citizen.
- People from other states and from other countries can claim lottery prizes in North Carolina as long as they have proper identification.
Here's how to report anything suspicious, click HERE