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 SANDRA MOORE" at the "Australian Government / australia lotto office" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "MR. BENSON ARTHUR" to collect your winnings? It is a scam. Don't you think the Australian government would know to capitalize "Australia"? And maybe write to you from a ".gov" email address, not a free Yahoo account in Hong Kong? No legitimate, legal lottery notifies winners vian email (see footnote) The scammers may change the names and details, but it is still a scam! If you fell for this scam, please do not reproduce. It might be genetic.
Below is the example of the fake lottery; this email claims to be from the "Australian Government / australia lotto office".
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 it's own email, it's 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.
FROM:THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT.
Date: 7/04/2007
Ref: 759610
Batch: 82350902/188
Winning no: AUS/000/13324-1CONGRATULATIONS !
Dear Sir/Madam,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT We the co-ordinator from the australia lotto office are happy announcing to you the draw of Australia International lottery / award programs held in Zurich , Switzerland Canada, Australia, United States, Asia,Europe, Middle East, Africa. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 8056490902 with! Serial number 6741137002 drew the winning: (24) (15) (83) (56) (13) which subsequently won you the lottery award in the 3rd category from the total cash prize shared among eight lucky winners in this category.Your email address has therefore been approved to claim a total sum of $250,000.00USdOLLAR (TWO HUNDRED & FIFTY THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS) in cash credited to file AUS/9030108308/07. This is from a total cash prize of US $30,000,000.00 (Thirty Million United States dollars) shared among the first 20 lucky winners in the first and second category worldwide.
Note that your lucky winning numbers falls within our lottery booklet representative office in Nigeria as indicate in the play coupon. In view of this, your (US $ 250,000.00) (TWO HUNDRED & FIFTY THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS) would be released to you through the assistance of our agent in Nigeria immediately he commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contacted him.
All participants were selected randomly from Worldwide Web site through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000,00 companies and individual emails address. The lottery program took place to promote Omega Crossing.
Please quote your Date of draw,Reference Number,Batch Number and Winning Number, which can be found on the top-left corner of this message.For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims are processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. Please you are advised to file for your claim immediately through our agents.
DEPARTMENT OF CLAIMS :
Immediately you received this message because you stand a risk of loosing the prize if you fail to claim within 30DAYS from the day you received this notification, Contact our claims department
NAME: MR. BENSON ARTHUR
E-MAIL:(lw_ban@yahoo.co.uk)
Tel:+2347034537759.immediately with your following informations:WINNING NO,BATCH NO,TICKET NUMNBER ,which can be found on the top-left corner of this message to process your claim/deposition of your cash to you immediately.
NOTE:That the bank responsible to transfer your money is EBONY BANK OF NIGERIA PLC ,the bank is registered and approved by the Government.
Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program that has successfully won this competition.
Sponsored by the Australian Government.
Best Regards
MRS SANDRA MOORE
(For co-ordinator) .PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT
MR. BENSON ARTHUR AT :
( lw_ban@yahoo.co.uk ).
+2347034537759.
ANY BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY ON THE PART OF WINNERS WILL RESULT TO DISQUALIFICATION.
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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