Lottery Scam Email:
E-Lottery International
"Frank Moss", "Mr. Richard Morley"
Have you received an email from "Frank Moss" at "E-Lottery International" telling you that "your
email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to
contact "Mr. Richard Morley" to collect your winnings? It is a
scam. No legitimate, legal lottery notifies winners via email (see footnote)! The scammers may
change the names and details, but it is still a scam!
This scammer has even gone to the lengths of creating a website,
www.goldcoinnet.co.uk, to make the scam look more believable. You may have
not learned how to make a website, but these days, most bright 12 year olds
could make a website in a couple of hours. It only takes a computer, $10 for a
domain name and $50 for a year's hosting. Don't be fooled by websites!
Notice that the scammer wrote from one email address, with a reply-to address
at another domain, and then asks you to write back to yet a third email address
and domain. We hope you might find this odd!
Then note that they claim to be based in Los Angeles, and next in London, and
the mobile number they want you to call is in South Africa. Doesn't this
strike you as strange?
Below is the example of the fake lottery scam claiming to
be from the "E-Lottery International".
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.
Actual scam email (One example - the scammers constantly change
names, dates and addresses!):
From: E-Lottery International [
einternational@oneluckyemail.net ]
Sent: 01/23/2008 12:29 PM ZE2
To: e.international@hotdak.net
Subject: Winner
E-Lottery International
1745 Wilcox Avenue
Los Angeles 90028
United States of America
Dear Winner,
We are pleased to announce you as one of the 3 lucky
winners in the E-Lottery draw held on the 23rd of January, 2008. All 3 winning
addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 5,000,000 international emails.
Your email address emerged alongside 2 others as a 3rd category winner in this
month's draw.
Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a
total pay out of £2,000,000 Pounds (Two million pounds) only. The following
particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:
(i) Winning numbers: 89,4,12,1,20,50
(ii) Serial number: 23-10-2007
(iii) Lotto batch number: US-987
(iv) Reference number: ELI-520-4
Please contact the under listed claims officer as soon
as possible for the immediate release of your winnings:
Mr. Richard Morley
Claims Manager
Gold Coin Finance UK
Email:
contactus@goldcoinnet.co.uk
Tel: +44 2070600365 Ext 2
Tel: +44 7045718751
Fax: +44 7005981754
This is to give you a brief explanation of how you
emerged a winner in the E-Lottery. The third category draws of E-Lottery is a
promotional draw, whereby participants do not have to buy tickets to formally
enter into the draws, about 5,000,000 international and local emails were
selected randomly by a computer ballot system and entered into the draws, you
consequently emerged as one of the 3 winners in this category. This entitles you
to a cash prize of £2,000,000.00
Once again on behalf of all our staff,
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Sincerely,
Frank Moss
Promotions Manager
Tel: +1-360-5195514
Fax: +1-425-8710225
Note:
1. All claims are nullified after 10 working days from
today.
2. Your Ref number must be in all your mails with the
claims officer.
3. Do inform the claims officer of any change of names
or addresses.
4. All winners under the age of 18 are automatically
disqualified.
5. Please contact your claims agent by fax or email (Mr.
Richard
Morley)
This email may contain information which is confidential
and/or privileged. The information is intended solely for the use of the
individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient,
be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents is
prohibited. If you have received this electronic transmission in error, please
notify the sender by telephone or return email and delete the material from your
computer.
--
Gold Coin Finance UK
84 King Street, Hammersmith Business Center London,
England, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 704 5718751
Fax: +44 700 5981754
Website:
www.goldcoinnet.co.uk
To which the victim replied:
Please can you confirm the validity of this email I have
received stating that I am a lottery winner ???? Your prompt
response will be greatly appreciated.
Also, the Mobile Number in South
Africa is 0827428329 not sure if you lose the 0 in front of the
number when phoning South Africa
The scammer's response:
From: "Gold Coin Finance UK", <
contactus@goldcoinnet.co.uk
Subject: Requirements
Date: 2008/01/24 04:27 PM
Dear < victim's name>,
We are in receipt of your claims file, I wish to inform
you that we have in our possession instruments of payment for the sum of
£2,000,000.00.00 awarded to you by E-LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL as your prize money
in the 3rd Category draws.
Requirements:
1.You will be required to fill in a 'Lottery Winnings
Claim Form'.
2. You will also
be required to pay a fee. This payment is to cover transfer charges,
administrative cost, Insurance of vital documents like prize claim certificate
and other transfer documents, that will be sent to you via Courier
service immediately after transfer of your winnings is effected.
3.After steps 1 and 2 are met your winnings would be
transferred to your designated bank account and a copy of your transfer slip
shall be sent to you for confirmation.
The reason for this
promotional draw is as a result
of our vision to extend our activities to other continents of the world and we
felt the best way to achieve this is by having a promotional draw.
Congratulations once again on behalf of members and staff of the E-LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL.
You are required to respond and act without delay to all
instructions provided above to ensure a glitch free claims process that will
facilitate the transfer of your prize money.
Richard Morley
Claims Department Manager
Gold Coin Finance UK
Tel: +44 2070600365 Ext 2
Tel: +44 704 5771451
Fax: +44 700 5981754
Website:
www.goldcoinnet.co.uk
Names of Scam / Fake / Fraud Lottery
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.
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