RALEIGH – The North Carolina Education Lottery is getting reports of scammers sending fake emails to people across the state.

The emails claim a person has won a prize of over $1 million in an online drawing called the “Legacy Prize.” The email asks for a player’s personal information to be sent to an overseas claim office.

“Lottery scams, unfortunately, are all too common,” said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “But they can easily be avoided by looking for the warning signs.”

Here are some things that will help people determine if an email is from the North Carolina Education Lottery.

The lottery does not know who winners are until they claim their prize. People will not get an email notifying them they won a prize, unless they are part of the NCEL’s players club.

The lottery will never ask for personal information by email. If you do receive a prize notification e-mail from the NCEL’s Lucke-Rewards or subscription program, it will ask you to verify contact information that is already on file.

The lottery does not have an overseas claim office. There are six claim centers located across the state of North Carolina.

Prizes of $100,000 dollars or more must be claimed at NCEL headquarters in Raleigh. Players will need to present a photo ID and proof of Social Security number to claim a prize.

Players can only buy draw tickets online or take part in NCEL’s online drawings if they are members of the players club. If someone isn’t a member and gets an e-mail saying they won, there’s a good chance it’s not authentic. If someone is a member, they can check the list of current drawings listed on Lucke-Zone.com.

Players who have questions about NCEL games can call Customer Service toll free at (877) 962-7529 and those with a security issue can call the Security Hotline toll-free at (888) 732-6235. The NCEL keeps information about lottery scams in a section of its website at http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/info_tips-scams.aspx/.