Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Have you received an email from "Dr. Harry Raymond(Esq) " at the "UK National Lottery" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "Paul Ferdinad"? It is a scam.
There are only two legal large lotteries in Britain, the National Lottery and the Monday Lottery, anyway. You must buy a ticket in order to win, and even if you bought a ticket, it is up to you to match the numbers and notify them that you won - they wouldn't notify you (how would they know you won, anyway!?) Below is a scam email actually received.
DO NOT reply to any emails you receive that claim you have won a lottery that you did not enter. They are frauds. You will lose your money. There is no "free lunch"; don't be foolish and believe a scam! We can not say it any more plainly: YOU WILL NOT BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL BY ANY LEGITIMATE LOTTERY THAT YOU WON A PRIZE. If you do receive such an email, it IS a fraud, do not reply to it! If you DID reply to one, see this page to find out what happens next!
Other resources:
Also
In the UK, call the hotline at 020 7211 8111 to check or report lottery scams.
There are many other signs that this is a fraud that we have highlighted in the email below, typically including one or more of these:
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a "computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Microsoft has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they suggest. Your email address cannot ever "win" you a lottery.
Terrible spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar - Scammers apparently don't know how to use spell checkers. We assume they dropped out of school before that class. They use almost random CapItaLiZAtion and often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd". Real lotteries proofread their emails and use people who can write above the 3rd grade level.
Using free email account: The scammer is writing to you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, Excite, AIM, Gmail, etc.). Don't you think a real organization would use its own email, its own domain and website?
Keep Confidential - Real lotteries THRIVE on publicity - they don't want you to keep anything secret - the publicity causes people to buy more tickets. there is NO risk of "double claiming" because they can validate where the ticket numbers were sold. The scammer want you to keep quiet because they don't want the police or ConsumerFraudreporting to hear about them!
Email notification: NO REAL LOTTERY SENDS AN EMAIL TO NOTIFY WINNERS. Period. Full-stop. End of story. There mere fact ALONE that you received an email saying you won a lottery is proof that it is a scam.
Courier / delivery charges are high due to Hardcover insurance Policy - If you respond to them, you will usually receive an email telling you you must pay delivery charges. First, as we mentioned earlier, no winner would ever have to pay delivery charges in a real lottery, sweepstakes or promotion. Secondly, there is no such thing as "hardcover insurance policies" . Go search in Google and see if you can find a definition for it!
Here is a typical scam lottery winning notification.
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:19:10 +0100
From: drharryraymond@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: CONTACT DELIVERY DEPARTMENT(PARCELFLIGHT COURIER SERVICE)
To: JessicaSimpson@hotmail.com
UK National Lottery,
Liverpool, L70 1NL
UNITED KINGDOM
P O Box 1010
GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED!!!
UK NATIONAL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY
IS REGISTERED UNDER THE DATA PROTECTION ACT OF;
(Registration U971133B).Winner's name:Jessica Simpson
Raffle Draw Winning Email:JessicaSimpson@hotmail.com
On Behalf of the Screening Committee of United Kingdom National Lottery, I wish to formally inform you that you have successfully passed the Email Screening and Verification Matching Test conducted for all online winners in your winning in accordance with the United Kingdom National Lottery Terms and Conditions. Hence you are therefore cleared for payment by the verifications and fund release department at the United Kingdom National Lottery Headquarters and your winnings has been duly signed and approved for release to you by the legal attorney to the United Kingdom National Lottery.
Your approved winning Certificate number is UK/9876125
Your winning Transfer Identification code is .ELPC/MWT/0143As you already know, all winners for the online version of the United Kingdom National Lottery Online promotions were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from an exclusive list of 21,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies listed online as part of our international promotion to promote international co-operation between the United Kingdom and other countries worldwide and I must say that you should count yourself extremely lucky to have emerged as one of our winners and we do sincerely hope you will put part of your winnings into good use for community, educational and business development and also to render selfless services to the less privileged in your community.
The process for claiming your winnings has been made very simple so that by the end of one week at most, you are assured of having received your cash prize and all the legal documents backing your winnings. In the light of the above mentioned, you are to contact the the Agency that will be handling the transfer of your winning to you with the contact informations below:
1) Winner's Full Names:
2) Present Full Address:
3) Telephone Number:
4) Raffle Draw Winning Email:
5) Amount Won:
6) Winning Reference Number:
7) Winning Batch Number:
8) Winning Transfer Identification code: ELPC/MWT/0143
9) Winning Certificate Number: UK/9876125
Note that you are to provide the Lottery Winners Agency that will be handling the transfer of your winning with the required details below to officially identify you:
PARCELFLIGHT COURIERS SERVICE
Name Paul Ferdinad
Email: parcelflightcourierservice08@yahoo.co.uk
Phone Number:+447024068409,+447024038054
dispatch officer.
Once Again Congratulations from all the staff and memebrs of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY BOARD.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Harry Raymond(Esq)Accredited Fiduciary Agent
Confidentiality Notice:
Please note that this email and any files that may be attached to it is/are confidential and is/are intended for the sole use of the individual(s) or entity (is) to which it/they is/are addressed. Any use,distribution,copying or disclosure by any other person or entity is strictly prohibited under applicable law(s).Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to official business of NATIONAL LOTTERY and insurance shall be understood to be neither given nor endorsed by NATIONAL LOTTERY finance and insurance when addressed to concern finance and insurance clients; and any information contained in this email is subject to the terms and conditions of the governing client's contract(s).
United Kingdom National Lottery
COPYRIGHT © 1994-2008 ALL RIGHT RESERVED
Agents Name: Dr Harry Raymond
Email: dr_harryraymonds01@live.com
Phone:Tel:+447024031116
+447024071349
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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