Powerball and Mega Millions are carrying more than $1 billion in jackpots between them this week, an estimated $604 million Mega Millions drawing on Friday, July 10, and about $457 million for Powerball on Saturday, July 11. Giant jackpots pull in millions of people who don’t usually play. They also pull in scammers, and lottery officials, Mega Millions among them, regularly warn that fake-prize schemes climb right alongside the headlines.

The good news: almost every one of these scams fails the same simple test. Here’s the honest read on how they work and the one rule that catches them.

The one rule: a real lottery never charges you to collect

No legitimate lottery asks you to pay anything to release a prize you’ve already won, not a “processing fee,” not “taxes up front,” not “insurance,” not a “delivery charge.” The New Jersey Lottery puts it plainly: it never requires the payment of any money to claim a prize. So if someone says you’ve won but you have to send money first, by gift card, wire transfer, Zelle, cryptocurrency, or a prepaid card, you haven’t won. That request is the scam.

“We don’t notify you, you notify us”

That’s how state lottery officials describe it, and it’s the second tell. The big multi-state games don’t know who their winners are until someone comes forward with a signed ticket. Powerball and Mega Millions officials do not call, email, text, or DM people to tell them they’ve won. So an unsolicited “congratulations, you’re a winner”, especially for a drawing you never entered, is a red flag by itself, no matter how official it looks. Scammers lift real names, wording, and logos straight from the official sites to seem convincing.

What the scams look like right now

• An upfront fee to “release” winnings. Any version of pay-to-collect.
• Untraceable payment methods. Gift cards, wire transfers, crypto, or prepaid cards, favored because they’re hard to trace and nearly impossible to reverse.
• A check that arrives first. You’re told to deposit it and wire back the “fees.” Days later the check bounces, and the money you wired is gone.
• Requests for personal or banking details: Social Security number, bank account, or card numbers, to “verify” you.
• A surprise “second-chance” selection. Real second-chance drawings only involve non-winning tickets you entered through an official state lottery app, and they never charge a fee. An out-of-the-blue “you’ve been selected” is the counterfeit version.

If you get one of these

• Don’t pay, and don’t share personal or banking information. Stop there.
• Verify only through official channels, your state lottery’s real website or claim center, not a phone number or link the message handed you.
• Report it to your state lottery’s security unit and to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Reporting it helps them warn the next person.

The calm way to actually know if you won

You never have to wait for anyone to “tell” you. The only thing that decides a win is your ticket checked against its own drawing, the single drawing printed on it (a Friday Mega Millions ticket says nothing about Saturday’s Powerball, and it doesn’t roll forward to next week). Sign the back, then check it yourself. Scan it once with WonYet and we’ll tell you if it won once that drawing’s results are posted, and, like any honest checker, we will never ask you to pay a fee to “release” a prize. If you’re holding a real winner, our guide to claiming lottery winnings walks through the legitimate steps, and our lottery-scams page keeps a fuller checklist of the red flags.

Record jackpots are a fine reason to buy one ticket for the fun of it. Just remember the rule that never changes: if a “win” comes with a bill, it isn’t one.

Sources: New Jersey Lottery · Mega Millions · FTC: fake prize and lottery scams

Always verify your results through official lottery channels before claiming any prize. WonYet is not affiliated with Powerball, Mega Millions, or any lottery organization. · All lottery names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners.