Due diligence

If you needed a reminder, here it is:

"they give their information to any 3rd party that asks"

thelotter - More dodgy business (phishing, data privacy, Panama files)

I was informed today on another report of thelotter. Here it is replicated below. Interesting that this customer was told their "customer service" is in India. Other reports have indicated that they say they are in Croatia, Malta, UK. Where exactly are they? Now it seems they are saying they are in India. Any company which has no physical address and cannot be located (or consistent) in a respectable jurisdiction has some serious red flags going.

Be very careful, folks.

TheLotter takes your money then permanently closes your account.

After joining TheLotter and spending close to $100, I got the following Email with no further explanation a week later:
 

"Dear Customer,

We wish to inform you that your account has been permanently frozen.

The system automatically freezes an account when one or more of the following situations occur:

A new customer makes a large deposit
A customer submits a different credit card with every purchase
A customer renounces purchases on the site
A credit card company refuses charges because the credit card has been reported stolen or blocked

To resolve this matter as soon as possible, please send scans of your payment method and the corresponding I.D. to accounting-at-thelotter.com.

If we do not hear from you within 30 days, your account will be permanently closed.


If you believe you have received this email in error, do not hesitate to contact us by email or live chat for further assistance.

Best,

Customer Support Team
theLotter.com"

When I joined TheLotter 6 months ago, I was very careful to ensure they did not need ID to claim prizes; otherwise I wouldn't have joined and paid any money.

To find they now want ID is absolutely unacceptable.

Furthermore, there is NO WAY that I am sending ANY ID by email due to Identity Fraud and 'Adrian' from 'VIP SERVICES' subsequently told me they have no Postal Mail address!

I have done research into this business. Ilan Price is the CEO and owner of TheLotter.com and has been named in the 'Panama Papers' at Mossck Fonseca. If that doesn't tell you something, nothing else will.The 'Customer Service Desk' is actually based out of BANGALORE, INDIA. Very dodgy!

I will demanding that they permanently close my account. I want nothing further to do with this dodgy business.

BE VERY CAREFUL OF SPENDING MONEY WITH THELOTTER.COM!

STAY AWAY!

Alex Portnoy
Bondi Junction
NSW, 1355
AUSTRALIA 

thelotter.com and sponsors - CAVEAT EMPTOR

Before being bought, this is his real commentary:

The number of games available for purchase is a biggie. thelotter.com supposedly offers every single jackpot game in the entire United States. 

Do you think they actually have purchasing agents in every single state? That kind of unreasonable business model is a clear tipoff that they are not actually purchasing tickets.

"Worst scam ever" - recovered (many deleted from trustpilot already)

Canada talks: thelotter - A Warning

From a Canadian forum website, another victim (February 2016)

"My friend used the lotter to buy tickets for the US draw.

First, she got charged an arm and a leg for extra transaction costs. Whatever, that was her choice

Second, she picked the syndicate option - but unbeknowst to her, the lotter kept charging her every day - she is now out $250. She was not aware of any option that she selected to keep withdrawing money from her account.

She had unsubscribed from the emails, but logged in today as she was still getting a couple of emails.

Apparently she called them, they operate from Malta and she said they said that they could see she had just logged in, so clearly she knew. She told them she had just logged in now, she had not been in since the first draw. He said something to the effect, all I say is the last time you logged in so you must've known you were being charged daily.

Anyway just to let you folks know BE CAREFUL if you deal with this website.

Wow. I see why they make money now.

....she called the Lotter - it was just one guy.  ONLY.  He claimed she selected it and she was being told this and since she had JUST logged in, he said it was proof she knew

Wow - terrible.

I bet they do this all the time to unsuspecting people to make their revenues go up

I told her to call her credit card company

Ridiculous and a warning"

A WARNING: thelotter beware 

Another victim of thelotter speaks on whether it is a scam and an illegal business

Another recent Trustpilot review (catch it before Trustpilot kills it as it did to many many negative reviews once thelotter complained this year)

"thelotter.com is a SCAM.

I purchased a single one time ticket and was VERY careful to avoid being locked into an ongoing subscription purchase.

There is simply no possibility it was a mistake on my part.

Yet upon checking my credit card statement, I was hit with multiple subscription fees.

This "business" and it's parasitic practices need to be stopped.

thelotter.com is a parasitic business that should be investigated and shut down for unethical/immoral/illegal business practices"

How many more victims need to come forward, and how much cover up can thelotter do, in the face of overwhelming evidence and impact statements?

If Trustpilot was a genuine review site, it wouldn't have deleted the negative reviews over the last YEAR, and is now allowing thelotter to post fake reviews for itself!

Reading thelotter's nauseating replies, each time feigning ignorance and denying responsibility, is also a gut wrencher.

Wake up authorities and investigate this profiteering gang!!!

Aren't we past April Fools yet? Trustpilot worsens with "thelotter approved" reviews and manipulating its Trustpilot score

Surprise, Surprise. 

thelotter is upping the ante in the review stakes, using Trustpilot as a way to plot reviews such as this.

The "review" below, just in yesterday, is laughable and an obvious plant by one poster (thelotter).

If no-one else can not see the absolute circus and play that the below is, they deserve to be "clients" of thelotter.

Shame Trustpilot SHAME.

The Lotter has been a great joy in my life (hahahaha), ever since I started playing a few years ago. It's enabled me (this it has) to play my favourite European lotteries from the comfort of my Texas home.
I especially love (oohhhh!!!! Amor!) seeing my scanned tickets (too bad most other reviews that are not affiliated with thelotter have never seen theirs) a few hours before each draw. Payments have been smooth and quick (for thelotter true), and fingers crossed that I win big soon!
Some of my friends have also joined me on The Lotter and I recommend it to any true lottery fan out there..
 

Thank you The Lotter
 

Mike Harris 

Reply from theLotter.com

Published 36 hours ago

Thank you Mike! It's great to hear you're happy with us!
Best,
theLotter hahahahahahahahah

thelotter and phishing

RIPOFF REPORT of thelotter.com

Tries to phish for more card details, makes closing an account difficult, does not want to pay out, gives inaccurate information including:

" '...according to the regulations of the credit card company visa, customers are not permitted to withdraw to their card if they have not used it on the Merchants website previously, therefore, your withdrawal request was refused.  To withdraw funds successfully we request that you attempt your withdrawal again with your credit card ending ...xxxx.' - TheLotter

Ripoff Report of thelotter.com

Is thelotter reputable and safe? Well let's see... (And more on Trustpilot)

It's interesting to note that Trustpilot has now become an area of focus for thelotter.

After applying to Trustpilot to have multiple negatives reviews removed (with success, mind you, given Trustpilot's laughable requirements such as the vendor being the one to tell Trustpilot whether they are a real customer or not hahaha - excuse me while I laugh at this obvious ....)

In the last few days, thelotter is now responding to the remaining Trustpilot thelotter reviews it could not successfully remove.

Read Ruth's savvy responses here

The third development is the creation of what looks suspiciously like fake profiles to give thelotter 5 stars: here's one - created 7 reviews in the last 2 days and of course leaves it with a glowing 5 stra recommendation for thelotter

Excuse me while I barf. Trustpilot removes all the negative reviews from different people with no issues, but allows this crap thelotter profile to exist.

Oh yes, the only "proof" that is needed is that thelotter verifies this is a real customer.

Barf.

It is noted by multiple participants and victims of thelotter that thelotter play the same scenario to unsuspecting "money pots":

1. Withdraws multiple amounts of money without consent
2. DOES NOT give you any receipts or copies of the lottery tickets
3. ALWAYS awards you with miniscule payments like $2 or Eur $0.08 here or there as a justification for saying that they had paid you out, so you have no right to complain
4. Is notably absent or sends "cut and paste" emails of phantom people with official titles, if required, to try to sound professional but NEVER return a cent to victims of its scam

As this poster said, stay away from these in the shadow operatives "stay away from this lying, scamming company"

Web analysis of thelotter.com - Is it safe? Is it trustworthy? Is it reputable? Is it true?

Shame on the Canada's CBC news network / A customer responds to thelotter

Interestingly, thelotter is trying to appear legitimate and actually choosing to respond to those complaints that they cannot shut down on Trustpilot.

Thelotter has been operating exactly as the customer below "Ruth" said for years now. They have gotten away with it and a comment revealed to me that useless, ignorant news agencies such as the Canada's CBC even reported thelotter as a way for Canadian citizens to get around the illegality of buying tickets abroad. Shame on CBC.

Back to Ruth. She speaks the truth and eloquently.

Unfortunately for thelotter, she is a long time reviewer on Trustpilot so thelotter couldn't get her "negative review" removed.

Here is her response to thelotter's self serving response:

Bad news, bad business.

Re: 2nd reply from thelotter.com -- BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!
"When you start a subscription you get an email, and now we have also added a confirmation email for every individual purchase."
The site says that you will receive an email receipt with every order.
I never received one for any of the 3 orders I placed. NOT ONE!
Your site takes monies from poor pensioners without any notification. You are THIEVES! Stopping the pop-up might be helpful. BUT...WHERE are the receipts telling me how much money you will take, when, and the numbers?
A lot of "flannel" going on with THELOTTER.COM replies. I pray that anyone who reads this interaction STAYS AWAY FROM THELOTTER.COM!! Customer services is a scam and you will lose money that you have never dreamed could happen when they have several secure online purchase logos on thelotter.com site that only benefit thelotter.com

Re Thelottercom reply: I tried both the online and phone customer support with no success. I asked for receipts All they did was refer me to my "account" which only shows your deductions from my bank account and thelotter account with a few paltry wins, which were also taken from thelotter.com account BY thelotter to spend on subscriptions. I was unable to find out the price of my tickets,or the numbers / lines that your company was taking. I just tried using $9 left in the account and was careful to ensure that i bought only a one-time ticket. The site has a pop-up that tries to sell you more tickets, which might be what i clicked when i bought the tickets (3 in total, 2 first time and 1 second time?) I did get a receipt for that purchase and it even had the numbers on it! Why didn't i get any receipts for the ones I bought in January?

To me, the subscription description was unclear. When I read it, I could not understand that the same numbers would be taken out of my account "at the will of thelotter.com" with no receipt and no one telling me how often money would be taken out, and how much.

When I read the site info, I understood that I would get a free ticket for every 7th ticket I bought... with me choosing the tickets and when they would be bought. DO NOT TAKE A SUBSCRIPTION. You get no receipt and have no idea when they are taking monies from your account, or how much. Customer Services are not as the person who replied described. They take the money out for a March purchase IN JANUARY, as well as February tickets at the same time! Buyer Beware!

Reminder of thelotter class action suit

Published Monday, January 18, 2016 

 

Looking for other victims like myself to start legal actions in UK

"I'm calling out to all those victims who somehow ended up 'subscribing' to their services albeit paying for every single game without knowing until your bank has to call you and warn you about such an activity.

I do not recall deliberately going for such a 'service'. Who would? Unless they did it on purpose to catch their clients off-guard and sign them up for something they don't even have a clue of.

It must have happened somehow automatically or in-between payment confirmations for the single draw. I do not recall picking the numbers for each game either.

I did not get a single email confirmation that such an activity is happening. Nothing is being sent to my inbox every single draw as it's supposed to be. Highly unethical one might think. But it's obviously made to scam the cash out of you.

Deliberately hiding money-sucking activities from the owner's bank account is a fraudulent activity and can be and should be punished by law. This is so wrong on so many levels.

It smells like pure scam though they pretend really hard not to be the one.

Please get in touch with me if you experienced their 'subscription' and we will take this case further collectively.

taboo2012 at yahoo dot com"

First posted at Trustpilot

Another victim of thelotter speaks

Another report and complaint just in today:

This Company is a Scam -
 

"I went looking for Euro Lottery online and came across this site. I thought it was legitimate and I bought just one euro lottery ticket in Jan. I did not want or agree to any subscription - Unfortunately I do not check my credit card statements regularly enough, I am too trusting. But 3 months later I suddenly discover they have been helping themselves every week since the 9th of Jan to my money charging my credit card. I tried to message them and also could not find how to cancel my account with them, it is very hidden to the extent I still have not found it? So the only option I had was to cancel my Credit Card. I have also asked my bank / card to try and recover the money they took without authorisation. Companies like this should be shut down by the UK authorities and not allowed to operate"

Why a blog devoted to thelotter and its affiliated sites?

Here is a recent victim statement related to thelotter.com:

"Bought tickets for that huge US lottery in January. You have to buy multiple lines. The site says that they will send an email confirmation of your order. I could not tell when I was buying the 2 tickets whether it was "doing a subscription", but knew that the receipt would confirm my purchase.

I did not receive any receipts, but did receive one telling me that my subscription was confirmed, with no information about the numbers, or cost. I received a couple of emails telling me that i won $9 and $14. I thought nothing about it, since they charge you a fee if they pay your debit card you winnings!

A week later, I checked my bank account, to see that thelotter.com not only took one payment, they took TWO payments of EACH of the tickets at the same time! I called and complained. They said no more money would be taken. Well, my back put a stop on my debit card, noticing astutely that something was wrong -- A Problem trying to recover my monies because I gave thelotter.com my debit card details.

If you give any entity your cards, BANKS DO NOT CONSIDER IT FRAUD! Then, middle of March, thelotter.com took more money from my account, though my card was "stopped" and replaced! It seems that they took the March money out at the same time they took the other fraudulent payments. The bank told me that they could actually take payments out for up to six years in advance, and the scammee is stuck! No, they don't charge a commission fee, they charge you when you take the money out of your "thelotter.com" account, and take a lot more money than you think you have paid. I then wrote to the company that is advertised on their site stating that your payments are secure. Secure from whom? No reply.....Stay away from thelotter.com"

This victim statement is one that was not able to be removed - thelotter has been known to  vigorously try to delete all record of a complaint history. This blog retains and captures those records as they are posted - before thelotter can try to remove them.

You see - this is what thelotter does to ordinary people every single day. And yet thelotter and the folk who run this (who operate out of dubious jurisdictions around the world to ensure they are not caught by the regulators or police) - pay for internet presence, advertising, heck even dumb newspaper sites could be victim, but moreso paying commentators.

They do this so people think that the are legitimate.

But all over the internet people are starting to know about the actual experiences of "customers" of thelotter.

And that is why this site exists: because these highly dubious enterprises have been allowed to run rampant for too long. And it's time they pay for what they do - effectively taking hard earned money from ordinary people every day and daring to advertise their wares for unsuspecting folk.

You've been warned. Stay away from thelotter. One or two announcements of victory through their site belie the huge amounts of the money they have taken from customers who then have no recourse except internet reports. These stories are whispered daily.

Don't be that fool.

Twitter tweets thelotter.com - is it safe, is it legit, is it fake?

Other reviews (recovered) of thelotter.com

Scam Websites Alert: TheLotter.com

thelotter-com-avoid-this-scamming-robbing-company/

thelotter.com and phishing/data privacy - untouched WOT ratings

Chatter from the WWW: "A total ripoff" "My friend got scammed" "I encourage you to have nothing to do with thelotter" "they give their information to anyone"

RIP OFF ONE but then SCAMMED

SUSPICIOUS?

DATA PRIVACY AND PHISHING?

ENDORSEMENTS ARE BY PAID SHRILLS - BEFORE THEY WERE SHRILLS:

Notice of Class Action against thelotter.com

Testimonies of past and current customers of thelotter.com (many deleted after complaints by thelotter for mysterious reasons such as "we have no record of this customer")

thelotter.com - is it safe? Is it legit? Is it associated with fraud activity - staff on the inside??

Trustpilot not trustworthy?

Further to my last post I researched some more on Trustpilot. Looks like they have some issues of their own AND this also explains why they deleted all thelotter negative reviews but happily accepted all the fake positive ones.

Oh of course because thelotter is the only one that needs to explain why that positive review is a customer they have a record of!

Trustpilot - spot the irony in the title - prizes galore.

So...it's really just another PAID ADVERTISING SITE but worse, it tries to seem objective, and fair. Thelotter.com case is the perfect example of how this "business" works.

Trustpilot - WOW

Shake my head.

Trustpilot deleting negative thelotter reviews instigated by thelotter? Mysterious "positive" posts being posted to replace them

I received notice from someone that they had their experience with thelotter deleted from Trustpilot.

Reason? thelotter complained, Trustpilot listened. Reason they gave him?

"thelotter has no record of you"

Jaw hits floor. WTF? This is how Trustpilot allows reviews to be posted, or not?

By taking the word of thelotter?

As he says, rightly, this also brings into question privacy issues - what exactly is Trustpilot sharing with "businesses" to earn their trust? Personal emails of complainants?

I just checked Trustpilot and a few other sources: it looks like Trustpilot has taken down at least 7 reviews that were negative and a host of new positive reviews are starting to appear on the Trustpilot page.

Miraculous?

Or not.

Clearly "Trustpilot" should change its name before we all puke collectively.

PS here are some of the ones not FULLY deleted by Trustpilot yet, but shows the systematic deletion of MANY negative reviews by Trustpilot

FTC Advice: If you purchase foreign lottery tickets, expect to be placed on the "sucker list"