Lottery Scams: UK Online Lotteries

UK Lottery Scams: UK "Online" Lotteries

Also see these pages:

Scams Using the Name "UK Online Lottery"
(There Is No Legal UK Online Lottery!)

How to Recognize Them and What To Do If You Receive One

There are only two legal large* lotteries in Britain, the National Lottery and the Monday Lottery (an online lottery), and neither uses email to notify winners. They use only these addresses to send communication such as purchase confirmations and rollover alerts. Again, the real UK National Lottery would NEVER use a Yahoo, Hotmail, AIM, AOL or other email address!

See sample emails (links at left or further down this page) for examples of scam UK lottery emails.

All lotteries, including foreign lotteries operating in Great Britain, are unlawful in the UK (except those provided for by the 1976 Lotteries and Amusements Act; meaning  the government run National Lottery). Note: in the UK, call the hotline at 020 7211 8111 to check or report lottery scams. Some of these lottery schemes say that the Gaming Board for Great Britain has approved them, but this is not true. The Gaming Board has a list of these companies and lotteries on its website, and warns people not to take part in them.

* Very small charity-based lotteries are legal with a number of restrictions, for legitimate charities. See the legal guidance for small lotteries and the UK government paper Lotteries and the Law. None of these would send you an email!

THE PITCH

They offer you something for nothing - such as:

  • you've won a prize in a draw or a lottery (even though you haven't entered one)
  • an exclusive entry to a scheme that's a surefire way to make money
  • a way to earn easy money by helping them get untold millions out of their country
  • the chance to join an investment scheme that will make you huge amounts of money; and so on.

There are hundreds of examples but we can all protect ourselves by being skeptical. Is it likely that someone you don't know, who has contacted you out of the blue, will give you something for nothing?

THE STING

They'll ask you to:

  • send money before receiving winnings − an administration fee or tax, the list is endless but its always a ruse to get you to give them money
  • give them your bank details or other personal details
  • ring a premium rate number (all UK premium rate numbers start with 090)
  • buy something to get your prize.

They will lie to you and give you what seem to be good reasons why you should do what they say. They will answer all your objections.

Don't send any money or give any personal details to anyone until you've checked them out and talked to a professional or family and friends.
If they ask you to do any of these things they're trying to cover their tracks and get your money and it's likely to be a scam.

Other things to look out for

  •  they ask you to send money straight away
  • they give you a PO box number as their address
  • they ask you not to tell anyone about the deal.

In the UK, call the hotline at 020 7211 8111 to check or report lottery scams.

Samples of Fraud Email "Winner Notification" Emails

CFR has plenty of examples of actual fraudulent emails sent out. You can probably find the one you received in the list below!

  1. British Online Lottery - "Award Notification Team, Uk GAMING HOUSE", "Barrister (MRS) MARGARETE SPENCER"
  2. UK-ONLINE-LOTTERY International program, Manchester, "Sherry Williams", "Mr Alfred Williams"
  3. UK National Lottery Online Free Draw, "Richard Lord", "claimsprocess-uknl3@live.com"
  4. THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY ONLINE, Sir Steve Smith
  5. UK National lottery online program - "Williams Chester", "Mrs.Cherry Rings"
  6. PREMIER LOTTERY UK ONLINE, "MR.ARET FRANKLIN", "MR.LARRY BROWN"
  7. MICROSOFT OFFICE UK - "Mr John Jeftha", WINDOS VISTA LAUNCH BONANZA WINNER, "NET DESPATCH COURIER SERVICE LTD"
  8. British Online Lottery - ONCE PROMO 2008 promotions - "Mrs Steffan .K. Lloyds", "Mr. Williams Ford"
  9. BRITISH ONLINE GAMES LOTTERY - Stan Phillip, Peter Edwards/Advocate Andy Vanbell
  10. British National Lottery (Online Program) - "Mr. Ashley Baker", "our fiduciary agent"
  11. British National Lottery British Gaming Board - "Mr. Kings Robert", "Sir Steven Smith" or "Mr. Richard James"
  12. BRITISH NATIONAL LOTTERY ONLINE PROMO PROGRAMME - "LOTTERY BOARD at webg_inc@bellsouth.net", "Richard Carpenter"
  13. NATIONAL LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS - Elizabeth Hanks
  14. UK LOTTERY ORGANIZATION - "Mrs. Marilyn James", "MR. FESTUS LANDER"
  15. THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY ONLINE PROMO PROGRAMME - "Sir Steven Smith", "Mrs Deborah White"
  16. The UK National Lottery, Online Sweepstakes International Lottery Program - "Mrs Scott Voke", "Mr Terry Cole"
  17. UK NATIONAL LOTTERY Online Sweepstakes International Program - Mr. Mark Benson
  18. UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program - "Ben Alan and SIR GEORGE HARRIS", "Mr.John Richards and John Scott"
  19. UK NATIONAL LOTTERY - "online Sweepstakes International program" - "SCOTT DAVIS", "Mr James Keegan"
  20. UK NATIONAL LOTTERY Sweepstakes' International Program - Mr. Makin
  21. THE UK NATIONAL ONLINE LOTTERY DRAWS - Carl A.Allison, Donald Leonard
  22. UK Online Lottery Result Headquarters - "Mrs Grace Parker", "Mr Felix Btown"
  23. UK LOTTERY, Online Sweepstakes International program, "JEN AND KELSEY KOWAL", "MRS JANELL CHARLTON"
  24. UKONL 2007 Lottery Program - "Marian Jones(Mrs)", "Gray Moore"
  25. UK ONLINE 2007 Lottery Program - "Mrs.Justina Ernest", "MR STANLEY MC NOWILL"
  26. UK Online Lottery - Sir. Stephen Smith, Paul Dyer
  27. UK Online Lottery - "Joy May", "Joan Clack"
  28. UK Online Lottery, at The Marina Offices of St Peters Yacht Basin
  29. UK Online Lottery, at The Marina Offices of St Peters Yacht Basin - more versions
    "Mr Matthew Rings"
  30. United Kingdom National Lottery wishes to inform you that the results of the E-mail address ballot lottery international program by Great Britain - Mr Fred Martin - Mrs. Dianne Thompson
  31. UK National Online Lottery Sweepstakes Promotion - Henry Preston
  32. UNITED KINGDOM ONLINE PROMO AWARDS, Steve Burt, Lucy Baines, Peter Taylor
  33. UNITED KINGDOM ONLINE PROMO AWARDS, Barrister. Luis Santiago ESQ, Mrs. Deborah Moore

Other UK Lottery Scams

  1. Lottery International - Free Lottery On line Sweepstakes International Program - and or - The Free Lottery International

 

Names of Scam / Fake / Fraud Lottery 

Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies

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And please let us know about any suspicious calls or emails you receive.  We look for patterns so that we can alert the authorities and victims to new scams, before it is too late!

 

 

 

For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.