There is a big concern over an active scheme in Bangladesh and the United States to exploit lottery winners. A source in Dhaka said that scammers find out pertinent information on those who won visas and contact them claiming they must pay a fee. Eager to come to America, lottery winners frequently fall into this trap and pay large sums of money to obtain a U.S. visa. There is a question of how this personal information becomes available and if there is involvement on the part of consular staff.

Schemes like this are also found in America. Connections are said to exist between perpetrators in Bangladesh and the United States. The Bangladeshis involved will share the names and addresses of the winners with their accomplices in the United States, who will then contact winners in Bangladesh and, in a similar fashion, claim that money is required for their visa. Lottery winners often do not seek law enforcement agencies or immigration lawyers, citing their lack of English as the reason.

Another source explains a different way people are being cheated. Offices opened at various locations in Bangladesh will coax people into filling out application forms "free of charge." Once filled out, the office alters the addresses of applicants to their own, in order to find out first (via mail) when any of their unsuspecting "clients" win the lottery. When the scammers receive the letter notification, they inform the individual of their lottery status but request money to disclose the case number. Without the case number the winner cannot contact the consular office for a visa. This method yields thousands of dollars from DV lottery winners.

In addition, scammers make arrangements to cheat the system for human trafficking. One practice is to send a woman, willing to pay the right price for immigrating to the US, along a male winner of the lottery as his "spouse" and a male along with a female lottery winner as "husband". (A lottery winner can legally immigrate to the U.S. along with his/her immediate family). For making such arrangements, the fraudulent scammers both in Bangladesh and in the United States remain very active.

Approximately 30 to 40 percent of Bangladeshi DV lottery winners are victimized. It is advised that those who win the DV lottery should inform community leaders and, upon arrival in the United States, contact U.S. immigration officials to avoid any fraudulent mishap. Lottery applications should be thoroughly examined and addresses should be verified so as to prevent these forms from being altered by an impostor organization.