Facebook users, there is no Instagram lottery or promotion paying thousands of dollars in prizes. Do not be fooled by lottery scammers who are sending messages like the one below to potential victims claiming they are winners in the Instagram lottery or promotion. The scammers trick potential victims into sending them their personal information by claiming their Instagram Profiles have been randomly selected from a computerized System (C.T.S.S) to receive a grand prize of thousands of dollars and electronic devices.
If the potential victims send their personal information, the scammers will sell it to other scammers or used it themselves to contact potential victims. Once potential victims are contacted, they will be asked to send money in order to receive their so-called lottery prize. If the money is sent, the scammers will take it and disappear, and the potential victims will be left without the so-called prizes that they were promised.
The scammers will then move to another potential victim.
A Sample of the Facebook Instagram Lottery Scam
Are you not aware that your Instagram Profile won the sum of $800,000.00 and a brand new Samsung galaxy s7 edge in our ongoing Samsung promo?
Well, It's a promotional program held for Instagram members worldwide, while participants were selected through random selection in our Computerized System (C.T.S.S.) from a database of over 80,000,000 Facebook users from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, the Bahamas and New Zealand. Your Instagram profile emerges a proud winner under the Second Category with a grand prize of $800,000.00 a Samsung Gear VR and a brand new Samsung galaxy s7 edge.
This is why it is important not to send money to collect a lottery prize. Once money is requested in order to collect a lottery prize, it is a scam. This is because legitimate lottery companies do not ask their winners to send money in order to collect their prizes or ask them to send personal information via text, email or social media messages.
For persons who have already sent their personal information, they should be careful going forward, because the scammers will contact them and attempt to scam them. And, for those who have already sent their money, they are asked to contact the police for help.