Lottery Blackmail

[jrcrzymum 0]

My sister in law went to a local travel agent in Lagos, Nigeria to apply for the lottery. Well, she was selected and we were so excited for her.....here's the kicker: the agent that submitted the form for her, put his address for the contact address so he received the notification and in turn notified her blocking out her bar code and number. He says to her that she must process her lottery through him only at his ridiculous fee!

We have a copy of the notification with his blocking out her number.....we need that number to proceed and this jerk will not give it to her.

Any suggestions? My husband is so irate.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

Can she contact the embassy and let them know? There must be a way to get the address changed- people move all the time- and get the TA blacklisted.

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Does the form have any type of number on it?

You could contact NVC and request a removal of the agent, and have them resend the info.

(however, if the agent put his address where your sisters info would normally go, you have a problem)

[Darnell 8,478]

can get any police involved?

That notice is a US Federal document, and for now, the TA is guilty of 'theft of US Federal Document'

so if the police can come in, and get the original document (I assume the 'blacked out version' is a copy) from the TA,

yer golden.

[Anh map 2,098]

Given that Nigeria has a history of frauds your sister in law should definitely confirm that she was in fact selected. Also she should refer to any paper that she signed giving the travel agent authority to act on her behalf.

As Penguin suggests she should contact the embassy directly to confirm.

Diversity Lottery Program

[Bobby+Umit 161]

can get any police involved?

That notice is a US Federal document, and for now, the TA is guilty of 'theft of US Federal Document'

so if the police can come in, and get the original document (I assume the 'blacked out version' is a copy) from the TA,

yer golden.

If he is acting as her agent - no theft is involved.

He blacked out a copy, not the original document.

However, she should have a right to the original document, but not knowing Nigerian laws - I won't hazard to guess, she may end up paying some sort of fee to the agent.

As AnhMap pointed out - she may not of really "won" and is just being scammed.

[damilola 0]

did the agent has a bill post that says play your visa lottery and his address will be used as contact address?if no,imoa as a nigerian i will suggest that you contact the state anti-fraud police unit at alagbon close and make a case against him cos he was paid the required money for the lotery,that amounts to extortation and fraud.make a strong case against him and to save others who might also be in the same pain as you.be smart and be fast about it.remember ther is no agreement that indicates he will use his address as contact.

hope it helps

[Boiler 45,411]

Lottery applications are free.

Sounds like a scam.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

here is what I found about verifying your status Does she have the confirmation number ?

To use the Entrant Status Check (ESC) Web site to check on the status of your Diversity Visa (DV) lottery submission, you must have:

*

Submitted your DV lottery entry for the previous lottery year

*

Your confirmation information that was displayed after you successfully submitted your entry

When you submitted your entry, you were presented with and asked to retain your Submission Confirmation. The Submission Confirmation displays the Entrant Confirmation Number, Last/Family Name (or blank if none), and Year of Birth. You must have this information available in order to check the status of your entry.

The Confirmation Number is 16 characters long (alphanumeric) and starts with the numeric digits 2011 (two-zero-one-one).

Example: 20111O0DZWY3DOV9

To distinguish zeros from capital “O”s:

0 = Number Zero (Number Zero in bold: 20111O0DZWY3DOV9)

O = Letter “O” (Letter “O” in bold: 20111O0DZWY3DOV9)

[jrcrzymum 0]

Thank you all for your input! What has happened is this: she saw an advertisement for free lottery application and thought, why not?, went into this agents office, filled out the paperwork, he took her pictures for the application and did not charge her anything, did not give her anything, only said she would be notified by mail if she is chosen. He showed up to the home and told her that she was chosen and to come to his office to proceed with the application. He gave her a copy of the notice, the confirmation number has been blocked out as well as the barcode underneath the number. He refuses to give her the original copy and says that he will not give her the original and that if she wants to proceed that he will handle the paperwork on her behalf and of course she will have to pay his fees! This man needs to rot to take advantage of a 19 year old girl like this! My husband has asked the help of family and friends to see what can be done.....she scanned the copy of the notice to us to see and he indeed put in his own address as the contact address. It's a real shame, my sister in law only saw the opportunity of a chance to be with her brother....

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

How well did they block out the number ? Sometimes it can be recovered

[Boiler 45,411]

Would she qualify for the Lottery?

My guess is that for him to make any money out of this he needs lots of 'winners' They may well find out after they pay that their application was not successful.

[patient2010 93]