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 "Mr. William E.B." at "The Japan Lottery Promotion" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "Dr. Mrs Juan Lee" to collect your winnings? It is a scam. No legitimate, legal lottery notifies winners vian email (see footnote)! The scammers may change the names and details, but it is still a scam!
Below is the example of the fake email scam (the email is the scam, not any persons or companies named in the email) claiming to be from the "The Japan Lottery Promotion".
Although the most important clue is that no legitimate lottery will ever email a winner, there are many other signs that this is a fraud. We have highlighted some of these in the email below, not the least of which are:
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a "computerized email selection" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Microsoft has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they suggest.
Gibberish names - Have you every heard of a name like "William E.B."? That's nonsense. And look at "Dr. Mrs. Juan Lee". That mixes a Spanish first name, an Asian last name, and two titeles. Not to mention, what why would a PhD (Dr.) be working as a lottery clerk?
"No tickets were sold": You care to explain where the money comes from? Perhaps the lottery money fairy? Why would a lottery give away money to "email address randomly selected by a computer ballot draw system"? This is CLEARLY nonsense: you MUST, repeat MUST buy a ticket to have a chance of winning any 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 excessive and random CapItaLiZAtion. Names are usually in all capital letters for some reason known only to these illiterate criminals. They often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd". These scammers usually write at the 3rd grade level. Being non-native English speakers, they also often get first names and surnames (last names reversed), so you will frequently see names like "Mr. SMITH JAMES.", instead of "Mr. James Smith", along with the peculiar usage of periods (full stops) and spaces or the lack thereof. Real lotteries also proofread their emails and look and read more professional.
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 it's own email, it's 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! It should read: "For our own security, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until we have finished scamming you!"
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.
Here is a typical scam lottery winning notification.
THE JAPAN LOTTERY PROMOTION
PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD
DEPT KENNEDY AVENUE
65 EXCHANGE ROAD,ORTIGAS BUILDING
JAPAN.PROMOTION OFFICIAL PRIZE NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual final
draws of the Japan International Lottery Worldwide Promotion, your email was
among the 20 Lucky winners who won $500, 000.00(Five Hundred Thousand United
State Dollars) each on the Japan Lottery Promotion dated as stated above.This is
from the total price of $10 million United State Dollars shared among the 20
lucky winners.you are therefore approved for a lump payment of $500, 000.00(Five
Hundred Thousand United State Dollars)However the results were released today and your email attached to ticket
number (343-221-8799) and ballot serial number (454-00) was among the
winners.The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses
from an exclusive list of 290,600 E-mail addresses of individuals and corporate
bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet.
However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different
ticket numbers for representation and privacy.The selection process was carried out through random selection in our
computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over 250,000
email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.This Lottery is approved by the Japanese Gaming Board and also Licensed by the
The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).This lottery is the
3rd of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public.As indicated by the computerized selection machine,your lucky winning number
falls within our Asia booklet representative office in HONG KONG/CHINA as showed
in the coupon.For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential until your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in
whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program.In other to claim your $500,000.00 prize winning,which has been deposited
in a nominated bank with your email address which won you the prize.However,you
will have to fill the form below and send it to the promotion manager of THE
JAPAN LOTTERY PROMOTION for verification and then you will be directed to the
bank where a cheque of $500, 000.00 has already been deposited in your favour.NAME:;;;;;;;;
AGE:;;;;;;;;;
SEX:;;;;;;;;;;..
ADDRESS:(RESIDENT ADDRESS ONLY);;;;;;;;
EMAIL:;;;;;;;..
PHONE:;;;;;;;;;..
OCCUPATION:;;;;;;;;.
AMOUNT:;;;;;;;.
COUNTRY:;. ;;;;;;.
Please you are adviced to complete the form and send it immediately to our
Promotion manager through email for prompt collection of your fund(CONTACT PROMOTION MANAGER)
NAME: DR. MRS JUAN LEE
E MAIL: drmrsjuanlee@yahoo.com.hk
PHONE: +86 1341 0893011
You are to keep all the lotto information away from the general public
especially your ticket number and ballot number.(this is important as a case of
double claiming will not be entertained)*Staff of Japanese International Lottery Company are not to partake in this
Lottery.Accept my hearty congratulations once again!
Yours faithfully,
MR WILLIAM E.B
(VICE PRESDENT FINANCE)
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
* Re: emails of winnings. We know of only ONE exception in the world to this rule - and if you bought a ticket from them, you would know it, and would used their safegaurds.