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 "James Smith" at the "UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "smithjames055@gmail.com"? 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.
FROM:UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
TICKET NUMBER: 74454774
SERIAL NUMBER: 144-66584
BATCH NUMBER : BT-4478474121P
Date: 03-MAR-09
AWARD FINAL NOTIFICATION:
We happily announce to you the draw (#999) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,online Sweepstakes International program held on the 20th of FEB 2009. You were entered as dependent clients with: SERIAL NUMBER:144-66584 and Batch numberBT-4478474121P.Your email address attached to the ticket number: 74454774 that drew the lucky winning numbers .
You have been approved for a payment of £800,000.00 (EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS STERLING ) in cash credited to file reference number: UKL/K5998/U4. This is from a total cash prize of Eight million pounds shared among the ten international winners in first categories., contact our accredited agent for your winnings.
Mr James Smith
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY SECURITY AGENCY.
E-mail: smithjames055@gmail.com
Tell: +44 70457 34885
+44-70457-28105
He is your agent, and responsible for the processing and transfer of your winnings to you.YOUR SECURITY FILE NUMBER IS Z-90237-Y?67/U4 (keep personal) In other to file for your claim,you have to Contact your Lottery Agent with the following information and fill out this form;
1. NAMES:..,.SEX:..ADDRESS:.COUNTRY:.....NATIONALITY..PHONE NUMBER :...OCCUPATION:.. YOUR AGE:..
You are to contact your claims agent whom will advice you on how to claim your Award Prize.
Yours faithfully,
Mr James Smith
Online co-ordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY Sweepstakes International Program.
Copyright ? 1994-2009 The UK National Lottery Inc.
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Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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