BALTIMORE, MD—The Maryland Lottery and the Maryland Department of Healthare providing tips to help Marylanders avoid scams that may arise in connection with the $2 Million VaxCash Promotion.

Announced on May 20 by Governor Larry Hogan, VaxCash is awarding $2 million in cash prizes to 41 Marylanders — 18 years of age or older — who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination in Maryland. Each day from May 25 through July 3, one winner will be randomly selected to receive a $40,000 prize. The promotion will culminate on the Fourth of July when one person will win $400,000.

To avoid scams, the Lottery and MDH officials are reminding all Marylanders of the following:

• MDH will make the first contact with each winner, not the Lottery.
• MDH will make multiple attempts to reach winners by phone and email, but will NOT be informing winners via text message or social media. If you receive a text message or social media message telling you that you were selected as a winner, it is NOT an official communication regarding the VaxCash Promotion.
• All emails to winners will be sent from official Maryland State Government email accounts with addresses ending in “maryland.gov.”
• An MDH employee will ask winners to sign and complete the “$2 Million VaxCash Promotion Authorization Form” and return it to MDH. The form will allow the Maryland Department of Health to release the winners’ contact information to the Maryland Lottery, which will guide the winners through its standard prize claiming process.
• After you have returned the “$2 Million VaxCash Promotion MDH Authorization Form” to MDH, a Maryland Lottery Communications Division staff member will contact you. At that time, your Social Security number will be required as part of the Lottery’s standard prize claiming process.
• Prizes must be claimed at the Lottery’s headquarters at 1800 Washington Boulevard, Suite 330 in Baltimore.
• It is not possible to receive a prize in the VaxCash Promotion unless you have already signed and completed the “$2 Million VaxCash Promotion Authorization Form” and you have submitted a Lottery claim form to the Lottery’s Customer Resource Center along with the required identification documents.

If you suspect that you are being scammed, please contact the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division immediately by calling 410-528-8662.

Additional fraud prevention tips are available on the Maryland Lottery’s officials website here.