News of a new lottery based scam has law enforcement agencies across the US warning senior citizens about new lottery scams. Senior citizens seem to be the target of these scammers as they are seen as more trusting and gullible. The new lottery scam is a variation of the old 'pigeon drop' scam. The old pigeon drop scam is a confidence game where the ‘mark' or 'pigeon' is convinced to give a sum of money to access a much larger sum of money.

In this new variation two people approach a senior citizen and ask for help cashing a winning lottery ticket. They usually say that their immigration status prevents them from cashing the winning lottery ticket themselves. The senior citizen is then convinced to withdraw money from their account in exchange for a share of the winning lotto jackpot.

This scam has been around for generations but criminals are always coming up with new variations. The newest version uses fake or altered lotto tickets. During the last few years victims have lost millions according to the Texas lottery commission.

Typically the scammers will approach a person who is shopping, usually a senior citizen, with an offer to sell a winning lotto ticket. They will usually have a sad story about why they cannot collect the lotto winnings themselves. The most common reason given by scammers is trouble with immigration due to their illegal status. The scammers will then offer the victim a share of the lotto winnings if they will help cash the ticket.

The lottery scammers will usually ask the victim to put up 'good faith' money to show the victim is trustworthy. To make the victim believe the lotto ticket is genuine they will often stop at a lotto retailer and pretend to have the ticket validated or they may call a confederate and pretend they are speaking with lotto officials.

Once the lotto scammers get the victim's cash they will distract the victim with some ruse and quickly disappear. Here are a few facts to remember,

1. You do NOT have to be a US citizen to claim a lotto jackpot.

2. Lotteries NEVER require money up front to claim a lotto prize.

3. Lotteries DO NOT confirm winning lotto tickets over the phone.

Scammers are always working on new ways to separate you from your money. Remember the old adage "If it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is."

There are many lottery scams and the introduction of online lottery tickets could prevent some of these scams. Players could check for winning numbers online which could prevent players from being defrauded by clerks at lottery retailers. The technology is already in place and many state lotteries are looking into the possibility of offering online lottery tickets to players.