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 "(MRS.) ANGELLA RICHARDSON" at "Honda Promotion" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "MR RICHARD OLSEN" to collect your winnings? It is a scam. Honda makes cars, not lotteries. And they certainly don't give away money to random email addresses. That's just dumb; it would not motivate anyone to BUY a ticket! And 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 another example of a fake lottery; this email claims to be from the "Honda Company UK".
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 "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 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.). 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! 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.
Subject: HONDA PROMOTION RESULT 2007
From: "HONDA COMPANY" <hondapromo@bellsouth.net>
Date: Tue, July 17, 2007 6:23 pm
To: info@honda.com--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HONDA COMPANY UK.
An Affiliate of Honda Uk.
28 TANFIELD ROAD,
LONDON, UK.AWARD NOTIFICATION.
We are pleased to inform you of the release, of the long awaited results of the HONDA CAR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAM held on the July 17th 2007. You were entered as dependent clients with: Ticket number:2752246876 . Your email address drew the lucky winning number, which consequently won the sweepstake in the first category,in four parts. You have been approved for a payment of £1,750,000.00 (ONE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND GREAT BRITAIN POUNDS STERLING.) in cash credited to file reference number:AT-040SA06- 03. This is from a total cash prize of Ten million Pounds shared among all our international winners in all categories. You are to contact your/our-accredited agent for your claim now.
************************************************* **
MR RICHARD OLSEN
HONDA CLAIMING SECURITY AGENCY.
Email: hondacompany15@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +44 703 193 0949 (Mobile Number)
+44 701 112 8904 (Office Number)
Fax: +44 703 040 3522 (Office Fax)
***************************************************
You are also advised to provide him with the under listed information as soon as possible:
Yours Sincerely,
(MRS.) ANGELLA RICHARDSON
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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