A quick rundown of what the '876' Lotto Scamming entails and, how you can help your elderly family and friends avoid falling prey.

1. Ethical LottoScamming?
Jamaica Lotto Scamming & Ethics
Compiled by Kleston Masters

2. What is a Computer/Cyber
Crime?
▪ Criminal activities carried out by means of
computers, networks or the Internet.
▪ Crimes that use computer networks to advance
other criminal activities. These types of crimes
include cyber-stalking, phishing and fraud or
identity theft.

3. What is Fraud?
▪ Fraud is when trickery is used to gain a dishonest
advantage, which is often financial, over
another person.
▪ There are many words used to describe fraud:
Scam, con, swindle, extortion, sham, double-cross,
hoax, cheat, ploy, ruse, hoodwink, confidence
trick.

4. What do Jamaican Lotto
Scammers do?
▪ They call telling you that you have won the lottery,
which you didn’t enter, and you have to pay some
fees or taxes to get the prize. Usually, you have to
wire the money throughWestern Union or a
MoneyGram - sometimes to Jamaica or sometimes
to an accomplice at a U.S. address.
▪ The caller claims to be doing you a “service” by
allowing you to pay upfront fees, so you can avoid
additional taxes, paperwork, hassles, and lawyers.

5. What do Jamaican Lotto
Scammers do?
▪ If you have sent some money, the caller will tell
you stories about why you urgently need to send
more money and suggest creative ways you can
obtain it, including selling property and taking out
loans, so you will get your big windfall.
▪ If you don’t submit any funds, the scammers may
appear to become angry and make threats, such as
reporting you to the IRS, police, or causing you or
your family bodily harm.

6. What do Jamaican Lotto
Scammers do?
▪ Scammers may later pose as government officials
or lawyers, claiming you have to pay for their
services to help with your case, reclaim your
scammed funds, or protect you from being subject
to criminal prosecution.

7. How do they do it?
▪ The scammers get the names of prospective
victims from people who develop lead lists, and
typically they make cold calls announcing some
great news, such as “You just won $3 million
dollars.” Once a victim sends them any money to
get the winnings, the scammers call again and
again with reasons to send more and more money.

8. How do they do it?
▪ Some even use web-based tools, such as Google
Earth, to find out details about their victims, such
as what their home looks like, or they may
research potential victims on websites, such as
Instant Checkmate, to learn previous home
addresses and other personal information.

9. How much money estimated?
▪ From multiple news sources, an estimated $300
million US dollars is lost by U.S. citizens to
Jamaican Lotto scammers through the popular
‘876’ fraud.

10. Is Lotto Scamming a Cyber-
crime?
▪ Lotto scamming is indeed a cyber crime as it uses
trickery and dishonesty as a means to gain
valuables/money from others.
▪ People are mislead and have no way of redeeming
their loses or even being forewarned (e.g. Opt-in,
Opt-out)

11. Is Lotto Scamming a Cyber-
crime?
▪ Many email lottery scams use the names of
legitimate lottery organizations or other legitimate
corporations/companies, but this does not mean
the legitimate organizations are in any way
involved with the scams – this is illegal, unethical
and even immoral.

12. How can Lotto scamming be
prevented/reduced?
▪ Lotto scamming affects elderly foreign citizens
over 65 years. If money-transfer agencies can
begin to question and seek details from this age
group or at least educate them right before the
transfer, a lot less frauds would occur.
▪ Public education
▪ Increased law enforcement locally and abroad
▪ New laws; strengthening judicial and procedural
rules
▪ Repaying victims (even if partially)

13. Sources
▪ Huffington Post Blog
▪ The Gleaner online
▪ The Jamaica Observer online
▪ Wikipedia
▪ JIS website
▪ Action Fraud UK