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 "Sir. Latoya Nicole" at the "British National Lottery" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "Mrs Shannon Maris"? It might seem odd to you that a person with a female Africa first name and a surname that is a female first name... would be a peer of the Realm with the title "Sir". It is more than odd, it is a pathetic scam, perpetrated by an idiot scammer in Nigeria.
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.
British National Lottery,
101 Wigmore Street
London W1U 1QUDear Winner,
We are pleased to announce the final result of the British National Lottery Online Promo Programme held 1st March 2009.You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of 815,502.00 Pounds.
For Due remittance of Prize Contact Shannon Maris with your Name/Full Address/Nationality/Age/Sex/Phone/Occupation/Country
Email: uknlprizeconfirmationdesk@8u8.com <mailto:uknlprizeconfirmationdept@8u8.com>
Note: All Replies and Queries Should only be sent to Mrs Shannon Maris via uknlprizeconfirmationdesk@8u8.com <mailto:uknlprizeconfirmationdept@8u8.com>
Congratulations on behalf of British Government Financial Department.
Yours Truly,
Sir. Latoya Nicole {Co-ordinator}
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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