News writer
Government officials in Kansas are warning their citizens of a scam going around involving people impersonating government officials, so stay alert.
The latest lottery scam
In a press release, the Office of the Kansas State Treasurer said a Kansas resident recently fell victim to a scammer who called claiming to be an employee at the treasurer's office.
The scammer convinced the victim that he had won a large sum of cash from the lottery. However, in order to collect the money, he would need to deposit a payment.
From there, the scammer told the victim he needed to wire funds and load money onto a gift card once the payment was received. After doing this, the victim would then get a visit from the treasurer at his home with the winnings, according to the scammer.
The treasurer doesn't hand-deliver winnings
Of course, this was not the case, and the man fell victim to a scammer.
Treasurer Steven Johnson said:
Imposter scams are a rising trend in Kansas. Kansans should be aware that the State Treasurer's office is not involved in the delivery of lottery winnings.
Everyone should know that these types of scams are on the rise. Authorities said the scams involve people impersonating government officials and they could be phone calls, texts, or emails. These scammers make use of caller ID to deceive victims, making it look like the call is actually coming from the government office.
The treasurer's officer is reminding Kansans that it is most likely a fraud when they request a payment in order to receive your funds. Also, requesting the payment to be made using gift cards is never something a government entity would make.
No scam here
While government officials are warning Kansans of lottery scams, the Kansas Lottery is sharing good news about winners claiming their prizes (legitimately).
In early July, the Kansas Lottery sent out a notification reminding players to check their Powerball tickets, as a $1 million Powerball was about to expire. It worked, as the winning ticket was recently claimed at lottery headquarters in Topeka!
The winner chose to remain anonymous and told lottery officials they kept the ticket in a safe place but had to wait to claim their winnings for personal reasons. Despite that, they were not relieved and excited to finally get their money.
The winning ticket was purchased at True Lies LLC, located at 607 Oil Hill Road in El Dorado. For selling the winning ticket, the lottery retailer is lucky too and will get a $1,000 selling bonus.
Lottery officials said there are still multiple prizes that remain unclaimed over the past year. The full list can be found on the Kansas Lottery website, but some of the unclaimed prizes include four Powerball prizes of $50,000 and three 2by2 top prizes of $22,000. Draw game prizes expire one year after the date of the drawing, and any instant game prizes expire six months after the game ends.
Enjoy playing the Kansas Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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