The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has this advice for consumers who are thinking about responding to a foreign lottery or other potential cross-border scams:

• If you are a US citizen and you play a foreign lottery through the mail or by phone, you are violating federal law.
• If you buy one foreign lottery ticket, expect more bogus offers for lottery or investment "opportunities." Your name will be placed on "sucker lists" that fraudulent telemarketers buy and sell.
• Keep your Social Security, credit card and bank account numbers to yourself. Scam artists often ask for them during an unsolicited sales pitch.
• Do not fall for a promise. Telephone solicitations that require an upfront fee for advance-fee loans, unidentified investment opportunities or prize promotions are against U.S. law. Furthermore, legitimate lenders do not guarantee a loan before you apply, especially if you have bad credit or no credit record.
• If you do not recognize a telephone area code, check it out in your telephone directory.
• The bottom line, the commission says, is to ignore all solicitations for foreign lottery promotions. If you receive lottery material from a foreign country, give it to your local postmaster or contact your state attorney general's office or the FTC.

For further consumer information please consult the following government agencies web sites:

Warning: Do not send any money or personal details to anyone who says that you have won a prize or anything else in a lottery or sweepstake that you have not previously entered. Such claims are almost certainly frauds. Always check fully any person or organisation before sending anything to them.
Lottery and Sweepstake themed advance fee frauds are on the increase. Individuals are targeted by e-mail and notified that they are a category A, B or C winner of a substantial amount of money, usually totalling millions of dollars, pounds or euros.
'Processing Fees'
The processing fee is usually the way to identify these scams. In some cases a 'processing fee' is mentioned in the initial 'win' communication. However some fraudsters wait until the 'win' recipient is sufficiently interested before asking for money.
Up front fees before the release of the 'jackpot' are usually justified as insurance costs, claim verification charge or a fee stipulated by a regulatory authority. There is nothing in British law, nor would there ever be, that requires a prize winner to make any payment in order to claim a prize.
Never respond to any such requests for advance payment.
"But they haven't asked for any money."
Some fraudsters set out to steal identities. Stop and think before you ever release personal information such as passport number, home address, telephone number, banking details, etc, to unknown organisations.
Websites
Many win notifications contain hyper-links to websites purporting to act for the lottery organisers. Taking the form of financial institutions such as insurance companies, the management of 'lottery' funds will appear as only a minor part of their wider organisation.
They may seem professional at first glance, but most do not bear close scrutiny. Most of these websites have been pirated from genuine organisations; as a result of cutting and pasting you may find that text is inconsistent, spelling irregular and the Contacts page will contain mobile phone numbers.
Finally….
How can you win a lottery or sweepstake if you never purchased a ticket?

Miller and Dr. Ed Stanek gave these tips to avoid lottery and sweepstakes scams:

• Never wire funds from a check you've received to pay “taxes or fees” for a promised lottery or sweepstakes prize. You'll never see your money again. Reject any kind of scheme that sends you a check and asks you to wire money back.
• To avoid all types of lottery scams, never believe a letter, phone call or Internet message from anyone who claims they can guarantee you a prize! Legitimate lotteries do not guarantee that you will win a prize and do not require people to join prize pools to play.
• Never pay processing fees, insurance or commissions to claim a lottery prize. Legitimate lotteries do no require winners to pay anything up front to receive a prize.
• Keep your Social Security, credit card and bank account numbers to yourself. Scam artists ask for them with the goal of accessing your accounts and stealing your money.

FIFA Reiterates Warning Regarding Illegal Lotteries
ZURICH, Switzerland (December 14, 2007) -- Further to its media release in September 2005, FIFA continues to be alerted to e-mails referring to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and informing recipients that they have been selected as prize winners in a lottery draw and have won substantial sums of money................Subscribers

New Date Set For Lottery Scam Case
JAMAICA (October 18, 2007) -- Fourteen people held in connection with the lottery scam which reportedly originated in Montego Bay..................Subscribers

Dutch Act on Nigerian Lottery Scams
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (June 17, 2007) -- Police in Amsterdam have arrested more than 100 West Africans as part of a seven month long investigation into internet fraud.....................Subscribers

OFT Launches Interactive Scams Guides
LONDON, United Kingdom (June 7, 2007) -- The OFT is today launching a series of interactive scams guides designed to help people avoid being tricked into losing money. The guides expose the clever tactics used by scammers and are the OFT's latest tool in the fight against the scams that cost UK consumers GBP3.5 billion every year............................Subscribers

Overseas Lottery Scammers Target South Australians
ADELAIDE, South Australia (April 13, 2007) -- People are being warned about the dangers of responding to bogus emails or letters from fraudsters purporting to be from South Australia’s government-owned lottery operator............................Subscribers

Iowa Lottery, Attorney General Begin Public Service Campaign To Warn Consumers About Lottery Scams
State Leaders Continue Push for Awareness of Lottery Scams
DES MOINES, Iowa (February 26, 2007) -- Ads warning Iowans about counterfeit check lottery scams were released across the state this week. The Iowa Lottery and Attorney General's Office teamed up to produce the ads to alert consumers about scams that promise huge lottery winnings, but deceive people with bogus checks............................Subscribers

WARNING! Counterfeit Check “Lottery” Scams Hit Iowa
Attorney General and Iowa Lottery Warn Consumers about Scams That Promise Huge Lottery Winnings, but Deceive People with Bogus Checks
DES MOINES, Iowa, USA (January 16, 2007) -- Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Iowa Lottery CEO Dr. Ed Stanek issued a joint warning Tuesday about a wave of counterfeit-check lottery scams - mailings that have induced Iowans to wire off thousands of dollars to try to claim what are described as large lottery or sweepstakes prizes..........................Subscribers