Did you know that Yahoo has a lottery? And that they give
away huge amounts of money to people simply for having "an active online email
account"? This is news to Yahoo, too. If you received an email from "Mrs Janet Jones" at "YAHOO & HOTMAIL LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE"
telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something
similar, and to contact "MR.JAMES HAROLD" to collect your winnings, it is a scam. Yahoo has
never had any lottery (and we're pretty sure they never will). Yahoo
certainly doesn't "collect email addresses" or selects winners "using a
database of email addresses", or "from websites worldwide", or from "our
computer ballot system". Each of those activities would be illegal in many
countries, under existing privacy laws. Not to mention, it simply makes no
sense for Yahoo to simply give away money. Real lotteries take in much
more money than they give away, through ticket sales? Businesses are not
lotteries - customers don't buy or use their products or services on the hope
that the company will run a lottery for its customers. And it's just plain
dumb to believe that!
The scammers may
change the names and details, but it is still a scam! Don't be an complete
imbecile!
Below is the example of the fake lottery scam claiming to
be from the "YAHOO & HOTMAIL LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE".
-
Yahoo does not have or sponsor any lottery.
-
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a
"computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even
Yahoo has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they
suggest.
-
"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.
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.) -
often not even a Yahoo free account. Don't you think Yahoo would write
from their own corporate address?
-
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.
Yahoo Lottery
Incoperation
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te
United Kingdom
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of
FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS(£500,000) for the new year bonaza of
MARCH 4TH
2008 Lottery promotion
which organize by YAHOO & HOTMAIL
LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.
YAHOO & HOTMAIL MICROSOFT WINDOWS in conjunction ,
collects all the email
addresses of the people that are active online, among
the millions that subscribed to Yahoo we only select 15 people every Month as
our winners through electronic balloting System without the winner applying,we
congratulate you for being one of the people selected.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
You are to contact your Claims Agent on or before your
date of Claim,Winners Shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement
Centre.Yahoo and Hotmail Lottery Prize must be claimed no later than 15 days
from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won.Any
prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.
These are your identification numbers:
Batch number.....................YHM09102XN
Reff number......................YHM35447XN
Winning number...................YHM09788
You are therefore advised to send the following
information to Fudiciary manager.
MR.JAMES HAROLD
REMMITANCE DIRECTOR
YAHOO PROMOTIONS UK
Tel: # +44 704-571-3956
FAX # +44-871-247-6662
E-mail:
nationalclaims210@gmail.com
1. Full name......................................
2. Country.........................................
3. Contact Address.................................
4. Telephone Number................................
5. Marital Status..................................
6. Occupation......................................
7. Company.........................................
8. Age ............................................
9. Nationality.....................................
10.Sex.............................................
11.Next of Kin:....................................
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your
winning informations confidential till your claim is processed and your money
remitted to you.
Congratulations!! once again.
Yours in service,
Mrs Janet Jones
(Online co-ordinator)
