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Last updated on July 5th, 2024 at 11:52 am
Earlier today I had a rather interesting text. It was a (possibly new) text scam. It stated I had won Powerball.
I can also admit that I didn’t think the California lottery or any state lottery will text you if you’ve won a prize. Let alone know a person’s phone number.
Like many text scams, it directed me to click a link and collect my nearly $3,000 USD prize.
The text number
The text was sent from a 301 area code. According to a quick google search that seems to be located in Maryland. But as we know most text messages can be pinged from different locations.
being that I live on the other side of the country I don’t think this was associated with The California state lottery or Powerball.
The text message
The message was pretty straightforward and simple. It wanted me to collect my prize winnings by visiting the link provided in the text.
Please collect your Powerball Lottery Winnings of $2763 before your ticket expires: toolcherish.com/cGuuK15
text message from 3018751980
I did a quick search
As I usually do when I’m sent random text messages I conducted a quick search. The search didn’t find any info about the number that sent the message. So from that, I figured it was an auto-generated number.
As far as the URL goes I did a quick search and it didn’t turn up anything. So again I can assume it’s an auto-created URL.
This is a new scam to me
This scam is a bit new to me. I’d seen and been contacted via social media by other scammers claiming to be Lottery winners who are giving their winnings away.
what you can do
You can report these texts to your service provider. You can also report them to the BBB and FTC.
Better Business Bureau
https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker
https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/reportscam
FTC
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/
Don’t forget to share this info with others.
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