It seems that scammers will try to steal using any situation, and the Louisiana COVID lottery is no different.
The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post this morning that scammers are trying to trick residents there.
The office "has recently received complaints of citizens receiving telephone calls from people claiming to provide assistance in registering for the Shot At a Million, also referred to as the “Louisiana COVID Lottery." We were able to obtain a telephone number from one of our citizens and the number was registered to a company that does not appear to have any involvement with the COVID lottery," the post states. "This most likely is done with a criminal practice known as “spoofing” where a criminal calls you using a telephone number that they can clone to resemble any telephone number of their choosing."
No one will call you to register you for the lottery, so you shouldn't give out your personal information to someone who does. No one who calls you should need any identifying information from you, so don't give it out. If you didn't ask a government agency to call you, chances are they won't. If someone claims to be with a government office take their name and number, hang up and find that government office number for yourself, then call to check the person's claim. Anyone who is legitimately calling you should have no problem with you doing that. AARP has some good tips for spotting and avoiding scams; you can find that info here.
If you want to sign up for the state's COVID lottery, you can find the information to do so here.
"Understand, as we always say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is," the sheriff's post states. "Keep your information private! If it is not a trusted source, family member, or website, do not share your personal information including anything from your COVID vaccine card!"
Here's the post:
