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 "Dr Steven Eloho" at "Australian International Lottery" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "s.elohoo600@yahoo.com" to collect your winnings? It is a scam. 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 the example of the fake email scam (the email is the scam, not any persons or companies named in the email) claiming to be from the "Australian International Lottery".
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.
"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. Names are usually in all capital letters for some reason known only to these illiterate criminals. 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
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARDS DEPARTMENT AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES LOTTER CORPORATION.
Date: 19/2/2008
Ref: GB8701/LPRC
Batch: 8056490902/188
Winning Numbers: 11 23 26 34 44 48
AWARD NOTIFICATION:FINAL NOTICE
Dear Lucky Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the lottery result winners of Australian International Lottery Program held on the 19th of February 2008 from the Australian International Lottery program. Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses. Your name was attached to ticket number; 675061725 9356460902 Serial Number 67749137002. This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 2-9-23-35-46 bonus number 14, which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You are here by having been approved a lump sum pay of US$500,000.00 (FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND US DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 46704/03 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category.
Due to mix up of some numbers and names, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money remitted to your nominated bank. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants. All participants where selected through a computer/mail balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada,Australia, United States Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies and also the Australian Government as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base.
Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our AFRICAN representative office in NIGERIA , as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$500,000.00 will be released to you from our regional branch office in NIGERIA
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE:
Simply contact your claims agent:
Name: Dr Steven Eloho
Email: s.elohoo600@yahoo.com
Tel: +234-8064-0833-82
To file for your claim. Please, fill the informations below and contact the regional claims agent with the filled informations:
(1)FULL NAMES : .........................................................
(2)AGE...............................................................................
(3)SEX...............................................................................
(4)RELIGION....................................................................
(5)ADDRESS..................................................................
(6)STATE.........................................................................
(7)COUNTRY....................................................................
(8)PHONE NUMBER.......................................................
(9)FAX -NUMBER............................................................
(10)MARITAL STATUS..................................................
(11)OCCUPATION..........................................................
(12)REF:NUMBER...........................................................
(13)BATCH:NUMBER.....................................................
(14)AMOUNT WON.........................................................
PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL CLAIMS PROCESS AND CLEARANCE PROCEDURES MUST BE DULY COMPLETED EARLY TO AVOID IMPERSONATION ARISING TO THE ISSUE OF DOUBLE CLAIMS.
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 while contacting your claims agent to help locate your file easily. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize has been released to you and also to the public. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by non-participant or unofficial personnel.
Note: All winnings MUST be claimed before the 30th of February 2008 ; otherwise all funds will be forfeited. Congratulations once again on your winning!
Best Regards,
Dr Steven Eloho
(Lottery Coordinator)
+234-8064-0833-82
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT AT:
NOTE: 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
* Re: emails of winnings. We know of only ONE exception in the world to this rule - and if you bought a ticket from them, you would know it, and would used their safegaurds.
* Re: emails of winnings. We know of only ONE exception in the world to this rule - and if you bought a ticket from them, you would know it, and would not be questioning it.