Lottery Scam Email:
YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE
"Dr. (Mrs.) Edith Barth", "Agent Mac Dowlling for your YAHOO/WINDOWS2007/2008/AWARD"
Have you received an email from "Dr. (Mrs.) Edith Barth" at "YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE" telling you that "your
email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to
contact "Agent Mac Dowlling for your YAHOO/WINDOWS2007/2008/AWARD" to collect your winnings? It is a
scam. It says, "YAHOO! collects all the email addresses of the people that
are active online" - that is not even technically possible. And the warning at
the end of the email to beware of frauds and scammers is a nice touch, isn't it?
"YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE" Isn't it nice that these two competitors are
giving away money to people... who just have an active email account. That
makes a lot of business sense, doesn't it?
Besides which, lotteries don't give money away to people who don't buy tickets -
not even as a "promotion". That's just dumb; it would not motivate anyone
to BUY a ticket! And No legitimate, legal lottery notifies winners via email (see footnote) The scammers may
change the names and details, but it is still a scam!
By now, if you actually fell for this scam, we truly hope you
feel like the moron that you are. It may be the only way you'll learn from it.
Below is another example of a fake lottery; this email claims to
be from the "YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE".
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.
Actual scam email (One example - the scammers constantly change
names, dates and addresses!):
From: "YAHOO INC..." <
agent.macdowling@yahoo.co.uk >
Sent: 30/12/2007 12:39 AM
Subject: YAHOO/WINDOWS2007/2008/AWARD
Yahoo! UK & Ireland Yahoo Awards Center
124 Stockpot Road,
Longsight, Manchester M60 2DB - United Kingdom.
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of SIX HUNDRED,THOUSAND
POUNDS
Great Britain Pounds ( AŁ600,000.00) for the 2007 Promotion which is Organized
by
YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE.
YAHOO! collects all the email
addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions
that subscribed to Yahoo, Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers. Six
people are selected
monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her
Settlement Center.
Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed not later than 15 days from date of Draw
Notification.
Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited. Stated below are
your identification
numbers: BATCH NUMBER: YPA/07/08APA-43658 REFERENCE NUMBER:200708234522 PIN:
1206
These numbers fall within the England Location file and you are requested to
contact our
fiduciary agent in Manchester and
send your winning identification numbers to him.
Agent Name: Agent Mac Dowlling
E-Mail: agent.macdowling@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +447024068902
As soon as you contact your agent,he shall commence the process that will
facilitate the
release of your fund,
once again we say Congratulations!!! Yours in service,
Dr. (Mrs.) Edith Barth
========================================================================
WARNING! Do not share this information until your money is successfully
handed over to you to
avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim. You may also receive
similar e-mails from
people portraying to be other Organizations or Yahoo Inc. This is solely to
collect your personal
information from you and lay claim over your winning.
In event ! that you receive any e-mail
similar to the notification letter that was sent to you, Kindly delete it from
your mail box and
give no further correspondence to such person or body.
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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