Lottery scams circulating

Olympia: Attorney General Bob Ferguson and officials from Washington’s Lottery are bringing attention to lottery scams. Individuals and groups are calling and emailing victims on a more regular basis with the goal of tricking people into thinking they’ve won a lottery prize.

The goal of lottery scammers is to convince victims to provide personal information or pay fake “processing fees” and “taxes” through a wire transfer or money order. In most cases, if the scam is successful, the money can’t be recovered, as many lottery scams are conducted by parties living outside the United States. It is...