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 "Tracy Kelly" at the "The National Lottery" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "Martin Cole"? It is a scam.
There are only two legal large lotteries in Britain, the National Lottery and the Monday Lottery, anyway, and they do NOT use email to notify winners. Below is a scam email actually received.
DO NOT reply to any emails you receive that claim you have won a lottery that you did not enter. They are frauds. You will lose your money. There is no "free lunch"; don't be foolish and believe a scam! We can not say it any more plainly: YOU WILL NOT BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL BY ANY LEGITIMATE LOTTERY THAT YOU WON A PRIZE. If you do receive such an email, it IS a fraud, do not reply to it! If you DID reply to one, see this page to find out what happens next!
Other resources:
Also
In the UK, call the hotline at 020 7211 8111 to check or report lottery scams.
There are many other signs that this is a fraud that we have highlighted in the email below, typically including one or more of these:
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 random CapItaLiZAtion and often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd". Real lotteries proofread their emails and use people who can write above the 3rd grade level.
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!
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.
The National Lottery
P.O.Box 17,
Kempsford GL7 4WZ
London.
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)Date: 18th of March 2007
FROM:UK NATIONAL LOTTERYTICKET NUMBER: 74454774
SERIAL NUMBER: 144-66584
BATCH NUMBER : BT-4478474121PDEAR WINNER,
we announce to you the draw of our programs held in London. Your e-mail address with serial number 144-66584 drew the winning lucky numbers: 31-6-26-13-35-7, which subsequently won you the sweepstake in the 2nd category.
This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by conglomorate of some multinational companies as part of their yearly promotions in the communities where they have perational base. Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our European representative office in London, United Kingdom, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of £500,000GBP, will be released to you from this regional branch office in London.
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To file for your claim, contact with your personal details, our fiduciary agent via the below details;
MR. Martin Cole
(VERIFICATION DEPARTMENT MANAGER)
Email: claimsoffice_martincole1@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +44-701-113-0059
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Congratulations from all members and staff.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs Tracy Kelly (co-ordinator)
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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