If you happen to use WhatsApp recently, you might have either received or heard about "Congratulations, you've won 25 lakh in Lottery Sambad" messages on this app. Regrettably, such types of scams are becoming increasingly popular in 2026, and the techniques used for scamming people are far more advanced than those of two or three years ago. The recent cybercrime statistics of India proves that lottery and prize-winning scams became the most widespread type of internet frauds targeted at newcomers to this industry.

How Does the Scam Work?

The message comes from an unknown number which is either Indian or an international one (like +234, +44, and so on). It states that you won the first prize of Lottery Sambad, though you have never participated in it and thus, have never had a chance to win. As a rule, this message is always well-written and emotional; it also has some forged lottery ticket number, as well as the phone and/or WhatsApp numbers of the lottery's organizers. Moreover, some of these messages also include forged logo of Nagaland or Sikkim State lottery and even a forged screenshot from the gazette page.

Upon your response, scammers proceed to the next stage: repeating their congratulations and informing you that the prize money is kept in the "secured account". The trick is that they start offering you to pay some "processing fee", "GST", "documentation fee", and so forth. The sum of the payment is usually between 5000 and 50000 rupees and then you may expect additional requests for more money: custom duties, insurance, account activation fee, and so on.

Why Do the New Lottery Players Become a Target of the Scamming?

These scammers tend to target newcomers to the Lottery business because the newcomer is inexperienced enough to know the legal procedures and can be deceived by the "official language" of the scam. The experienced player knows that lottery winnings occur only when there is a physical paper ticket bought from the authorized retailer and the prize claims must be filed within 30 days in the office of the Director of Nagaland State or Sikkim State Lotteries and no government office will ever ask you to pay anything for collecting the prize. Newcomer has no such experience and that is why the fabricated feeling of urgency in these messages affects him/her.

Moreover, many of them learn about Lottery Sambad from media and/or word of mouth and believe that WhatsApp messages have something to do with the online registration process of the lottery.

The Signs of Fraud That You Must Not Ignore

Firstly, if you receive a message stating that you've won the lottery you have never bought the ticket to – it is a scam. The fact is that the lottery winnings occur only if you have a physical paper ticket purchased by you. Secondly, if anybody asks you to pay any fee before obtaining the prize – it is a fraud. There are no taxes (TDS) charged separately from lottery winners, but merely deducted from the sum. Thirdly, if the message comes from an unknown international phone number or unfamiliar Indian number – take into consideration the fact that this message is a scam. Finally, if they ask you to give your Aadhaar, PAN card, bank details, OTP, or any other confidential data – you should stop communicating immediately.

Also, any information about the winnings of the Nagaland or Sikkim State Lottery will never come in the form of the WhatsApp message. The only official websites, where you can check the results and prize, are nagalandlotteries.com and sikkimlotteries.com, while all mirrors are officially checked, like lotterysambad.tv.

How to Deal With the Scammers?

The easiest way of dealing with them is simply ignoring the message and blocking the number in WhatsApp via clicking the button "Report". However, if you've already transferred any amount of money, the first thing to do is calling the national cyber crime helpline 1930 and filing a complaint. The quicker you do it, the higher the chances to freeze their bank accounts become. Besides, you need to file a written report at the cyber crime portal and retain all the necessary proof for the investigation: the screenshots, transaction IDs, and chat history.

Conclusion

It is a pure numbers game for the scammers: they send millions of such messages knowing that only a few people will respond to it, but this response will mean losses for them ranging from several thousand to hundreds of thousands rupees. The only way to protect yourself is the knowledge about how does the Lottery work in practice and remembering that the legal winnings occur only through the physical tickets purchased from the authorized retailers. The prize claims must be made at nagalandlotteries.com and sikkimlotteries.com.