The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has urged members of the public to be wary of a New Zealand Lotto Award scam which is circulating online.
Commission Senior Public Relations Officer Namukolo Kasumpa tells Money FM News that the scam is requesting consumers to submit their personal information with intent to extort money from people’s accounts.
Ms. Kasumpa says preliminary investigations conducted by the Commission indicate that the Acculotto Group Organization in collaboration with the National New Zealand Lottery had conducted a first promotional draw on 26th June, 2020 in which eight (8) winners were selected for a lump sum of €2,500,000.00, out of over 2,500,000 email addresses collected worldwide from individuals and companies using a computer ballot system.
“The Commission wishes to state that the notification in question is untrue and that there was no such draw conducted by the National New Zealand lottery contrary to what the scam purports,” Ms. Kasumpa stated.
She urged the general public not to give out their personal details such as age, sex, name, address, contact number, nationality, country of residence, National Registration Card, passport, occupation and bank account information.
“Further, the public is urged to diligently ascertain the authenticity of any online notification before disclosing any of the aforementioned details as failure to do so may expose them to internet scams and fraudsters.”
“CCPC also wishes to warn all business enterprises who are perpetuating the dissemination of content aimed at misleading consumers to desist from engaging into such conduct as that is punishable under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) No.24 of 2010,” she said.