TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Lottery is warning citizens of a lottery scam targeting the elderly making its rounds in South Florida in which scammers are asking residents for help claiming a “winning” ticket.

The scammers are claiming that they’ve won a Lottery prize but are unable to collect it because they are not a U.S. citizen, so they ask the victim to claim the prize for them, promising a share of the winnings. The victim is then instructed to call a claim number on the back of the “winning” ticket; the claim number, however, does not connect to the Florida Lottery but rather to the scammer’s accomplice who is posing as an official Lottery representative. The scammer tells the victim they must pay a fee and/or taxes in order to claim the prize, reassuring the victim that they will get double or triple what they’ve spent when they go in to claim the prize. Once the scammers have obtained the money or personal financial information, they disappear.

The Florida Lottery will never require a winner to pay a fee in order to claim a prize and will never ask for personal financial information, offering these cautions:

• Never pay money to collect a prize.
• Never give your credit card number(s) or personal information over the telephone to anyone promising lottery cash prizes or memberships.
• Never redeem a lottery ticket for a stranger.
• You do not need to be a U.S. citizen to claim a Florida Lottery prize.

For more information and to find other tips to protect yourself, please visit flalottery.com. To report a lottery scam, consumers should contact the Florida Lottery’s Division of Security at 850-487-7730 or their local law enforcement.