PrizeGrab Scam Exposed — Nothing Common with the Official Sweepstakes!

PrizeGrab Scam Exposed

Are you a fan of sweepstakes websites? If so, you’re probably aware of PrizeGrab. The name tells potential participants a lot about the website – it gives players a chance to try different opportunities for the purpose of grabbing a prize.

Unfortunately, the legitimate website is having its name used by scammers. This is how the PrizeGrab scam was born. If you’ve never tried lottery websites and sweepstakes in the past or you don’t know how to protect yourself from illegitimate proposals, the following guide will be the right one for you.

Is TheLotter legit or is it a scam?

PrizeGrab is a relatively popular website. There’s no purchase necessary in order to participate and just about every US citizen over the age of 18 can join.

Once a person subscribes, they will see a list of available prizes. In order to eventually win, the individual will have to register for the specific opportunity. The terms, conditions, and the amount of the prize are provided with every individual opportunity.

Please note that PrizeGrab doesn’t make it possible for someone to win without signing up or participating in the respective prize (more about that later, once we introduce the scam that relies on the popularity of PrizeGrab).

Every single day, PrizeGrab makes official announcements about winners via email. This is where things can get a bit tricky because dozens of scams out there rely on email communication for the purpose of fooling gullible individuals. Thus, such emails will need to be checked carefully and their legitimacy will have to be verified before any additional communication takes place.

As you can see, the rules are pretty simple. PrizeGrab is more of a sweepstake opportunity rather than an actual lottery platform. The simplicity and the dozens of different prizes available have made it quite popular among players in the US. Unfortunately, the name of PrizeGrab is being used maliciously.

The PrizeGrab Scam: Nothing to Do with the Original Platform

When speaking of a PrizeGrab scam, we’re actually describing multiple fraud attempts. All of them have one thing in common – the perpetrators are individuals presenting themselves as PrizeGrab officials via different communication channels.

According to the official PrizeGrab website, there are phishing scams carried out via emails impersonating PrizeGrab notifications.

Phishing is an activity aimed at getting personal, login, or financial information from the recipient. Such emails usually impersonate ones being received from actual institutions – banks, the IRS, PayPal, and even lotteries.

The PrizeGrab report suggests there are several ways to recognize one of their official emails. For a start, the official PrizeGrab notifications are sent from a team manager and they refer to an actual sweepstake that the person has entered. If you haven’t played via the website, it would be impossible for you to win anything.

In addition, legitimate emails are sent from a name@PrizeGrab.com email. This is the official domain of the opportunity. If you get an email like PrizeGrab@mailxxx.com, chances are that you’re either being scammed or that you’re subjected to a phishing attempt.

A few other distinctive characteristics of the official PrizeGrab emails include:

  • You will be provided with a five-day period to make your prize claim – any email that is labeled as urgent or immediate is a scam
  • There will be no taxes or processing fees being mentioned in the email (you will get solely the official rules you will have to follow for the purpose of collecting)
  • A person that wins more than 600 dollars will be asked to fill out the information that’s submitted to IRS for taxation purposes
  • The email will not make a demand for the provision of personal or financial information on the spot
  • The bottom of the email will let you know that you can ask additional questions at contact@prizegrab.com (you can also use this email to verify opportunities and make sure you’re not being scammed – a response will be provided within 48 hours of mailing the support team)

Email scams and phishing attempts, however, aren’t the only ones.

PrizeGrab scam

Lottery enthusiasts report that scammers impersonate PrizeGrab officials on social media. Messages have been received both via Instagram and Facebook. The content of the message is similar regardless of the channel being chosen. The recipient is made aware of the fact that they’ve “won” either a certain cash amount or a brand-new car. In order to collect the prize, the recipient is asked to provide a bank account number and they also have to pay a processing fee that exceeds 300 dollars.

The message will come from a person with a legitimately-sounding name like Stephanie Johnson, for example. Once a scam profile is uncovered and reported to the Facebook or Instagram admins, it will be deleted and a new one will appear in its place. Thus, the name will change periodically, but the gist of the scam will remain the same.

Please remember that you cannot win prizes from sweepstakes and lotteries that you haven’t entered. In order to become a PrizeGrab winner, you have to register for the respective prize that you’re interested in. Don’t be gullible and don’t put yourself in jeopardy due to thoughts that you could win some easy cash.

  1. This is what I received!
    They want $1,000 from me to file my paperwork. Taxes they say are already paid; which you can see in the list below! There is no way the IRS is going to settle for $22, 000 of taxes on a 2.5 million win. They are going to take 80% of what you win and if you win. It would be more like me getting $22, 000 after it was over. I just wanted to share what has been coming at me for almost a month now by someone calling themselves, John Moralez.
    This is an editor’s nightmare, I can not believe a company would send something like this out and not pdf lock their file to keep it from being changed, stolen, used, or whatever. Unfortunately for him, I am an editor. : ) There’s not even an affidavit offered in this email, to be signed & returned to the claim prize center.

    Claims the World Trade Enterprise

    International Prize Grab Cash Awards I.P.G.C.A. Inc, Customer Service, Las Vegas Nevada
    An Affiliate of Charity International. Arena Complex Km 18 Route de Rufisque, I.P.P Award Department,
    Amsterdam, Holland.

    Dear: Ms, Sharon kay Gulley
    We happily announce to you the draw of 2021 International Prize Grab Cash Awards Program held on January 5,2020 in Las vegas..You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$ 2.500,000.00 (TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND) in Cheque. Along with Five Thousand Dollars ($5000.00) in cash plus a motor car with free green card to purchase free petrol and license and insurance for 1 years.

    All participants in this lottery program were selected randomly through a computer ballot system, drawn from individual Instagram. Your Instagram name was picked by the automated computer ballot system, which has been programmed for this random selection. This has eventually qualified you for the Winning. This promotional program takes place annually, and is promoted and sponsored by prominent personalities, Sultan of Brunei, Bloomberg Inc. With the support of European corporate companies and organizations to encourage the use of Internet and computers worldwide.
    Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our American representative’s booklet in Las Vegas as indicated in your file number. In view of this, your US$2,500.000.00 cheque would be released to you by Our American Fiduciary Agent; Our American Fiduciary Agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your cheque as soon as you contact Barrister in Florida.
    Please contact Mr david James for your claim with the following details below to enable the speedy evaluation and processing of your winning.

    Without any delay you have to contact: Mr. Devonn james Tel:(786)765-2132

    For security purposes and clarity we advice that you keep your winning information confidential, and not to be disclosed to anyone until your claim will be fully processed and your winning Cheque delivered to you.
    BE WARNED!

    Your winning details can only be released to your fiduciary agent who will commence the process of your winning, this is to avoid wrong and double claim, and it is also part of our security protocol to avoid unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. You are requested to contact Our American Fiduciary Agent for your claim. Please note that all winnings must be claimed not later than one month after the date of this winning notification. In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications make sure that your winning details are quoted correctly in all correspondence.

    Processing Fee Not paid
    US$1000
    State to state
    US$6,100.00
    Shipping and handling
    US$3,100.00
    Registration
    US$8000.00
    Insurance
    US$5,000.63
    TOTAL COMPANY PAID
    US$22,200.63

    We advice that you adhere strictly to these procedures to avoid disqualifications and subsequent cancellation. The above detailed information will be absolutely necessary to facilitate the process of your winning Cheque. For our bonus feature we offer you an opportunity to choose one color from any of the following colors to win one of the following hot deals on wheels. Choose any color and relate it to your barrister:

    Processing will commence after payments have been received the following cars have been opted for the huge sweepstakes giveaway:

    NOTE: The cost of your package will include the following fees; processing and handling, insurance, and FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT OUR BARRISTER: Scott Winter ONLY.

    This winning notification will only be valid for one month and failure to claim your prize after this period, your Cheque will be automatically annulled.

    Congratulations!
    Ms. Sharon kay Gulley

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    • This was according to this person, from PrizeGrab.

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  2. I would like to tell you all that price that they tried to scam me today and they called and said they had prizes on the way that they would be there here in 2 hours and I believe it was a scam but then again in the back of my mind I wanted to think that maybe it was true that you was being I wish that kind of stuff and it comes true but I should have known it was too good to be true and that they wouldn’t come in but I did go out there and try to clean my yard up and get everything looking decent so if they did show up but luckily I did not send him no money they wanted me to and I told him no and then they told me I had to have $200 before they even got here with the prizes and stuff and so I knew then and I just hung up my phone and turned it off and he kept texting and texting and texting back and trying to call me on my phone for a long time after I hung up on him but anyway it is a scam some of them are thank you Brenda Foster Brenda Foster west Blocton Alabma

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  3. I think that it is a scam. Everything looks legit, but I stopped getting emails from them during the time that I was entering. Assuming that it was an ok site I left message as I no longer could get the bonus contests that are your bonus and I couldn’t get messages if I won. Never got an answer back. When you see what prizes that they offer you have to question where all of the money (from the ads) is going. When I got their winner lists they seemed skimpy to me. By the way I attempted to reach them thru their contact page over and over. I even gave them another email address if they really had a problem with my email. Their site said that they would respond in 24hrs…not to me, alas.

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  4. Yeah I got some guy saying that he’s and I’ve won 20 $20,000 $2,000 a month plus a car and some other stuff too I don’t know what the hell it is y’all gas cards but he wants me to send him $80 and I don’t have it

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  5. I was also contacted by a person by Facebook messenger. I like to egg them on. I read all the rules and wasn’t fooled there. The problem there is Facebook. Today my facebook got hacked from Sunnyvale, CA. This is not prize grabs fault totally FB. Be smart if you have time why not.

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