Everyone dreams of winning big in a lottery, but in the crypto world, that dream can quickly turn into a nightmare. I learned this the hard way when I got caught up in what I thought was a legitimate crypto lottery. Here’s how it happened and what you should look out for.

I came across a website advertising a lottery where participants could buy tickets using Bitcoin, with the chance to win a large jackpot. The site showed previous winners, and it even had a live counter tracking ticket sales and the increasing jackpot amount. It seemed like a great opportunity, so I bought a few tickets, spending around 0.1 BTC.

A week later, I received an email saying that I had won a small prize and that I needed to pay a “processing fee” of 0.02 BTC to claim it. It didn’t seem unreasonable, so I went ahead and paid. After that, I didn’t hear anything for days. When I tried to reach out to their support team, my emails bounced back, and the website had vanished. I quickly realized that the entire lottery was a scam designed to lure people in with fake winnings and then disappear after collecting “processing fees.”

If you come across a crypto lottery, take a moment to question its legitimacy. Most legitimate lotteries don’t require you to pay fees to claim your winnings, and any lottery that asks for Bitcoin payments should be treated with caution. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement, but remember that scams often prey on our desire for easy money.