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. Sarah Jones" at "WORLD WELFARE ORGANIZATION - Communication Unit, CWM" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "Rex Williams" 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 "WORLD WELFARE ORGANIZATION - Communication Unit, CWM".
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.
Communication Unit, CWM, Ipalo House,
26-29 Great Peter Street,London SW1P 3DB,
United Kingom.
Ref. Number: CW/491OXI/04
Batch Number: 12/25/0304
Ticket Number: 564 75600545-188
Serial Number: 5388/02
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are pleased to inform you that you are one of the Beneficiaries in
our welfare Program held on the 17th of May 2007. Your e-mail address
attached to ticket number 56475600545-188 with serial number 5388/02 drew
lucky numbers 7-14-18-31-45, which consequently won in the 2nd
category, you have therefore been approved for a sum pay out of USD $2,500,000
(Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars).This is born out of the
desire to put smiles on some faces.
METHOD OF SELECTION
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn
from over 20,000 company and 30,000,000 individual email addresses and
names from all over the world. This promotional program takes place
every five years.This program was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate
of some organizations as part of
their social responsibility to alleviate poverty level of citizens in
the communities where they have operational base. Please note that this
is not a lottery program.Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we
ask that you keep this information confidential until your claims have
been fully processed and your money given to you.
This is part of our security measures to avoid multiple claims and
unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.
To file for your claim, please contact your assigned fiduciary agent.
Rex Williams
Email: rexwilliams1@ulmail.net
Remember all funds must be claimed not later than 30th of May
2007.After this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next
stake.Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications,remember
to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence.It will interest you to note that beneficiaries of the program is not
restricted to some particular religion,It is a non-religious based
program. Furthermore,should there be any change of addresses do inform our
agent
as soon as Possible.Congratulations once more from our members of
staff.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Sarah Jones
International Coordinators.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Congratulations once again, my name is Rex Williams.I will be
your guide through the various process of obtaining your
claims.You are required to forward the following details to
help facilitate the processing of your certificate and the
release of your claims.
1. Full names.
2. Residential address.
3. Phone number.
4. Occupation.
5. Sex.
6. Age.
7. Country
You are advised to forward these information as soon as
possible to enable us attends to your file. Please note that
your funds have been deposited safely in a financial
institution, and yourinformation will be forwarded to the bank
before the bank can release your claims.
After you have sent down this information, a scanned copy of
your certificate will be sent to you. This is to be your prove
from this office to the bank before they release your funds.
The reason why God has blessed you is for you to affect the
lives of others, I hope you will not forget this.
Once again congratulations.
God Bless,
Rex Williams.
From: "FUDICIARY AGENT- WORLD WELFARE ORGANIZATION" < rexwilliams1@ulmail.net > A
Subject: CONTACT THE BANK
Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 09:43:17 GMT
Dear Sir/Madam,
This organization hereby sends you a scanned copy of your
certificate as an attachment.The originals of your
certificate will be sent to you via courier after you have
recieved your money.Please forward this certificate to the
bank that its details is given below:
BANK NAME: Lloyds(TSB) Bank International.
ADDRESS: 25 Gresham Street London EC2V 7HN
CONTACT NAME: J. Eric Daniels, (Group Chief Executive)
EMAIL: ericdaniels__lloydsb@mail2uk.com
info_lloydsbank@mail2webmaster.com (customer
Service)
TEL: +44-701-113-6910
FAX: +44-870-478-6394
+44 871 253 3047
+44 707 572 7743
The certificate will serve as a confirmation of you being a
beneficiary. The organization needs you to strictly adhere to
the instruction of keeping the information of you being a
beneficiary to yourself, so as to avoid multiple claims to
the money. We do hope that you will use this money to also
affect lives,
God Bless.
Best Regards,
Rex Williams.
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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