The Michigan Lottery is warning the public to be aware of scam artists claiming to be lottery agents or prize winners.

Lottery prize scams surface from time to time and have been known to pop up around the holidays. The public should always remain vigilant.

The Michigan Lottery processes all prize claims for free, and players must have a valid winning ticket to claim a prize. If you haven’t bought a lottery ticket or played a lottery game, there’s no way you could win a prize.

To check if a lottery prize, offer or promotion is legitimate, members of the public may contact the Lottery’s Player Relations Division at 844-887-6836, option 2, or via email at onlinehelp@michiganlottery.com.

Generally, there are two types of lottery prize scams:

— A person gets a letter, email, text, or phone call to inform them that they’ve won a big lottery prize but must pay a fee to collect the prize. If the person agrees, the scam artist convinces them to mail a cashier’s check, make an electronic funds transfer, or even arranges a meeting to get the money in cash.

— A person is contacted by mail, email, text, or phone call by someone claiming to be a lottery prize winner. The scam artist tells the person they will share their prize if the person sends money to them. If the person agrees, the scam artist convinces them to mail a cashier’s check, make an electronic funds transfer, or even arranges a meeting to get the money in cash.

In some cases, after getting money from the victim, the scam artist comes back asking for more for unexpected processing costs or fees or uses some other excuse to try to get more money from the victim.

Unfortunately, the more money the victim supplies, the longer the scam will continue.

Those who believe they have been the victim of such a scam should contact a local law enforcement agency.

— Iron Mountain Daily News