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 "Mr. Dylan Rhys" at "Visa Credit Card Lottery Promotions" saying you won their promotion or lottery promo and to contact him at "dylan.rhys@sbcglobal.net" to collect your winnings?
Wow! So the credit card company, Visa, operates a "lottery promotion program" in which they randomly select winners who may not even have a Visa credit card, using a computer balloting system of email addresses from the "WWW"? And they even have "subsequent Lottery Jackpots"?
Who knew? They must keep this publicity promotion a well hidden secret!
OK, in case you just fell off the turnip truck or are merely incredibly gullible, it is a scam. And don't get too excited if the names are different; the scammers make many versions of this scam!
It is actually a very simple scam. They claim you won a promotion, which is giving away millions of dollars based on a randomly selected email address. The scam is obvious: it's simply preposterous to think that any company would give money away randomly to encourage you to buy their product. That would be pointless and self-defeating.
Although the most important clue is that no legitimate lottery, and almost no legitimate sweepstakes or promotions will 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.
Using free email account: The scammer is writing to you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.). Don't you think a real organization would use its own email, its own domain and website? Wouldn't they want to promote that?
Keep Confidential - Real promotions THRIVE on publicity: that's the purpose of them! They don't want you to keep anything secret - the publicity causes people to buy their product. 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!"
What are they promoting? No one promotes "world peace" or "use of the internet" by handing out millions to random strangers. And if they are promoting a product or a lottery, then this must be the world's worst promotion, because no one has heard of it, outside of the email you just received. Just giving away money to random people who have an email address wouldn't promote a darn thing! It is a scam!
Pay a fee to collect the prize: Nope, it is illegal for free sweepstakes and promotions to charge you ANYTHING! Of course, in a scam, that is the whole point: to get you to send money to the scammer.
It is a typical scam promotion sweepstakes winning notification. Also see these pages:
Claims Procedures for Category A+.‏
From: Mr.Dylan Rhys ( dylan.rhys@sbcglobal.net )
Sent: February 27, 2008 4:55:02 AM
Dear Winner,
On Behalf of the Company, I say Congratulations to you for being a winner in this Grand Category (A+). We have received your email with utmost delight in the Visa Credit Card Lottery Promotions programs held in London and the few eligible winners (Three) contacted personally.
All Participants were selected through a Computer Balloting System drawn from a pool of over 25,000 E-mails of distinguished World Wide Web (WWW) drawn from Europe, America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, parts of Africa, and South America. As part of our International Promotions Program conducted annually to encourage prospective overseas entries. We hope that with part of your Prize awards, you will take part in our subsequent Lottery Jackpots.
In line with the Governing rules of claim, you are requested to furnish us the following information
1. Full Names.
2. Residential Address.
3. Occupation.
4. Tel/Fax.
5. Date of Birth.
6. Nationality.
7. Winning Numbers.
Do understand that, this is done to ensure that, we are dealing with the rightful winner in this Category to avoid double claiming by non-winners as your winning amount is £1,500,000 GBP (One million Five hundred thousand great British pounds sterling) and as such cannot afford any uncertainty.
In Receipt of the required information we shall start with the verification, processing and certification of your claims.
Importantly, for the enablement of your Claims, you are advised to comply with our payout procedures, as these are mere formalities that will guarantee payment of prizes to all qualified winners in this Category and not to Non Winners.
Furthermore note that, all prizes should be claimed not later than the stipulated Deadline. After this date, all unclaimed prizes will be returned to the British Gaming Board (B.G.B) which will be in turn sent to the Lottery Commission for subsequent Lottery Draws.
Upon the Acknowledgement of the above, we shall start the immediate verification and processing of your Claims.
Mr. Dylan Rhys,
Direct Tel: +44 704 570 9498
Fax: +44 709 288 7389.
Email: dylan.rhys@sbcglobal.net
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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