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Lottery Scams: UNITED PARCEL SERVICE DELIVERY (UPS) "Courier Service"

Lottery Scams - Email from the "Courier"
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE DELIVERY (UPS)
Dear Esteem Customer
"Mr. Cole Anderson"

Did you receive an email from "UNITED PARCEL SERVICE DELIVERY (UPS)" saying

"Greetings from United Parcel Service,We hereby inform you that we are in possession of your winning parcel containing a certified cheque written in your name,with identification number"...

Do you think that UPS might know how to spell "esteemed" correctly? And it tells you that that you must pay "hardcover insurance policy", "delivery fees", "taxes", etc.  Of course, that is all nonsense. Real lotteries are prohibited by law in most countries from charging winners these fees. Some of this is simply made up: there is no such thing as a "hardcover insurance policy" - go ahead, search on that term in Google and see if you can find a single definition. Similarly, the references to specific laws and regulations are either completely made up, or taken completely out of context. 

The simple fact you must somehow grasp is no legitimate lottery will ever email a winner, nor require a winner to pay any fees, taxes or delivery charges. 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:

  • NO LOTTERY ANYWHERE REQUIRES WINNERS TO PAY FEES, TAXES OR OTHER CHARGES TO COLLECT THEIR WINNINGS!!! Can we say it any more plainly than that?

  • Pigeon English - Notice that as the scammer gets past the initial template email and must write free-form, how his grammar, spelling and basic sentence structure go straight in the toilet.  The scammers don't even know how to use spell checkers.  After all, this is a stupid, low-life criminal in the heart of Africa, who probably dropped out of school at age 5 to join a gang or militia. Obviously, 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!"

Here is a typical scam lottery winning notification. 


Actual scam reply email (One example - the scammers constantly change names, dates and addresses!):

From: UPS DELIVERY [ unitedparcelservice@couriernet-services.net ]

UPSUNITED PARCEL SERVICE DELIVERY (UPS)

358 Regis Road, Kentish Town
London, NW5 3RR

Tel: +447045707759

Fax: +448704716042

Dear Esteem Customer, " Your name here"
 
Greetings from United Parcel Service,We hereby inform you that we are in possession of your winning parcel containing a certified cheque written in your name,with identification number {CPEL/OWN/9687},which is to be delivered to you,as instructed by our affiliate(EUROPEAN PRIZE AWARD DEPT).You are to please confirm the below data's,if they are correct about the receiver of the parcel,to enable us input it into our computer delivery system.


Receiver's  Information:

Receiver's Name :  ______________

Receiver's Sex : Female

Receiver's Address : ____________
Capitol Site, ____

Receiver's Country :  __________

Receiver's Tel : ______________

Receiver's Next Of Kin (If applicable): Nil

Who will sign to collect the parcel upon delivery? include a phone number of this person to enable us call him/her when we gets close to your area. With this information, we would be able to dispatch your parcel immediately. We will only deliver the parcel to the address you have given us and we will only hand over the parcel to the person you will assign to sign for its collection. This individual must have a valid identification of him/herself as proof.

Description of parcel to be delivered :
Weight of parcel ........................0.13kg
Color of parcel............................Brown
Lenght of Days.........................Pending on your choice of delivery.

Parcel Status............................Metallic Sealed

The International delivery Service items are priced according to the tariff zone of the destination country, weight or volumetric weight (1m³ = 250kg) of the item and additional services selected. The price includes export and import forwarding.

For your designation,below are the mandatory charges that you are required to pay to enable us courier your certified parcel to you. You are allowed to choose one of our three specified shipment options for your location (PHILIPPINES);

Normal class delivery: in 120 hours

______________________________
(cost of delivery)                                           
Courier Charges: £149 pounds                       
Insurance: £133 pounds
Vat: £110 pounds

 

Total: £392  pounds
______________________________
Premium class delivery: in 72 hours
______________________________
(cost of delivery)
Courier Charges:£189 pounds
Insurance: £200 pounds
Vat:£142 pounds

 

Total: £531 pounds
______________________________
First class delivery: in 48 hours
______________________________
(cost of delivery)
Courier Charges: £300 pounds
Insurance: £350 pounds
Vat: £200 pounds

Total: £850 pounds. 

You are advised to choose the option that is most convenient for you.

Note: The charges are a little high because of the insurance cover we have undertaken in case of loss,damage or theft of your highly sensitive consignment content. We assume all responsibilities in case of any eventualities. United Parcel Service do not allow Cash on delivery (C.O.D) as all payment must be made in this office before shipment can commence.

Do confirm the delivery address and indicate your specified shipment option and send it to this office vian email. All orders not delivered within seven (7) working days from this communication, will lead to the return of the parcel.
 
Your satisfaction is our priority and we look forward to providing you the best of our quality service. Do have a wonderful day in anticipation to hearing from you ASAP.


Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Cole Anderson.

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE (U.P.S)
==============================================================
This e-mail is intended only for the above addressee. It may contain privileged information.
If you are not the addressee you must not copy, distribute, disclose or use any of the information in it.
If you have received it in error please delete it and immediately notify the sender.
===============================================================
© 1995-2008 United Parcel Service LTD

 


Names of Scam / Fake / Fraud Lottery 

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