CLEVELAND — Ohio ranks fourth nationwide for lottery and sweepstakes scams, with victims losing more than $35 million since 2020, according to a study by Vegas Insider.
Good Morning Cleveland anchor Mike Brookbank spoke to Dave Grendzynski, a writer for Vegas Insider, about how criminals target lottery players.
"AI generated voice modules are super popular these days amongst the scammers," said Grendzynski. "So they'll use the AI generated voice in a phone call that comes from a familiar number."
Grendzynski said there was a 148% increase in scammers using AI-generated voice tools to pull off their schemes last year alone.
Besides phone calls, Danielle Frizzi-Babb, the Ohio Lottery's communications director, said you also need to be wary of emails and social media messages claiming you won money.
The Ohio Lottery will never notify winners of major jackpots through unsolicited communication.
"We are not going to ask you to give us money in order to claim your prize," Frizzi-Babb said. "The only way for you to claim your prize with us is to come into our office with your ticket and claim it."
The biggest red flag is simple: if you never entered a drawing, you didn't win anything.
Suspicious communication should be reported to the Ohio Lottery and the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
