Lottery

Congratulations! You've won the lottery/sweepstakes/grand prize. But of course, you haven't won a thing and instead could be on the hook for fees associated with your winnings.

Means of contact

• Phone
• Fax
• Email
• Text message
• Website popups
• Internet
• Mail

Description of scam
You receive an email or call advising you that you've won a lottery, prize, or vacation. All you have to do to claim your prize is send a small fee or tax payment. There are no prize fees or taxes in Canada. If you won it, it's free.
Legitimate contests don't charge fees for you to collect your prize.

Tactics used
Since you've already won, the scammers want to make it easy. All you have to do to claim your prize is to send a small fee or tax payment

Additional information
Legitimate contests and lotteries do not charge you to collect a prize. This is how scammers get you to send cash or obtain your chequing account or other financial information. Of course, the winnings never arrive.