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. Kings Robert" at the "British National Lottery British Gaming Board" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "Sir Steven Smith" or "Mr. Richard James"? It is a scam.
There are only two legal large lotteries in Britain, the National Lottery and the Monday Lottery, anyway, and they do NOT use email to notify winners. 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.
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.
On behalf of the Claims Department and Members of Staff of the British Gaming Board I will Like to Congratulate you on your Lottery Winning as you have won yourself One Million Eight Hundred AND Fifty Six Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty Two Pound (£1,856,652).
You have won as a result of random picking of emails, your email addres( ******@******) were selected among others and five of these emails including yours was selected at random, which substiquently won you a total cash prize of One Million Eight Hundred AND Fifty Six Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty Two Pound (£1,856,652).from the British Gaming Board, The Official Sponsor of the BRITISH NATIONAL LOTTERY.
The Online raffle draw which made you the winner of this lottery is the annual draw that is been conducted Once in a year in the British National lottery Office, This is to Enhance E-comerce and Trading as the Chief Executive Officer of the Microsoft Company have once adviced that Lottery Company should start Online draw by taking Internet into another exciting dimension of Life. It is in view of this that the British National Lottery, ( a renowned Lottery Company In the United Kingdom decided to start what is known to be the Online Lottery draw making them a stakeholder in this development that is highly related and Useful to Mankind.
To continue the Verification of your winnings, You are expected to fill in the FUND RELEASE VERIFICATION FORM (by clicking on reply of your mail box and filing the required informations) and submit vian email to your claims officer and so it can be file in for The Remittance of your Winnings.
Once Again Congratulation!!! and We Hope to hear from you soonest.
PAYMENT PROCESSING FORM:
Ref Number:
Batch Number:DETAILS OF BENEFICIARY :
1.Full Names: (Surname First):
2.Address:
3.Country:
4.Telephone:
5.Gender:
6.Marital Status:
7.Age:
8.Occupation:
9.Email Address:
10.Amount Won:PARENTIAL DETAILS:(OPTIONAL)
1.Mothers Name:
2.Nationality:
3.Age (if still alive):
4.Telephone:
5.Address:
NB: For instant payment, this payment processing form must be filled and send back to the BRITISH NATIONAL LOTTERY Fudiciary Agent.
****************************
BRITISH NATIONAL LOTTERY
28 TAN FIELD ROAD,
CROYDON, LONDON.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY WINNER You are a winner of the UK
National Lottery Online Promo Programme that was held on 13th
of march, 2006..You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
£1,856,652 (One Million Eight Hundred AND Fifty Six Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty Two Pound
Please contact:
Mr. Kings Robert
Tel: +44-703-190-855 or+44-703-190-4883
Email: mr.robert_claimsdept0010@yahoo.co.uk
Sir Steven Smith
_________________________________________________________________
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30Th March, 2007.
Dear John Smith,
Compliments of the day to you. Below is an attached copy of your parcel delivery invoice from our dispatch department. Your are expected to download it and get back to us.
Attached to your parcel is the original copy of your winning certificate, together with a covering document (Money Laundering protection and Letter of Affidavit for Claims) from the British government stating that the money was obtained legally through their National Lottery along side your cheque. This means that you have been officially cleared for payment by the Verifications Dept. at the headquarters of the UK National Lottery.
Note that your parcel is bonded and protected by a hardcover insurance policy, which makes it impossible to make any deduction before it is remitted to you. This means that our courier charges cannot be deducted from the prize. This is in accordance with section(13)1n of the National Gambling Act as adopted in 1993 and amended on 3rd July 1996 by the Constitutional Assembly, this is to protect winners and to avoid misappropriation of funds.
MR. RICHARD JAMES, (CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT)
Please do call customer service line for confirmation.
+44-701-194-7379
Phone number:+44-701-421-8716
Email:info_dynamicdispatchcourierservi@yahoo.co.uk
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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