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 "Paul White" at the "UK National Lottery" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "Austine Moore"? 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.
From: "paul white" < paul_uknl3@hotmail.com >
Reply-To: aus_moore@hotmail.com
Subject: UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:13:27 +0000UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
Support Center
Bevan House
51 Bevan Avenue
Conwy LL28 5AF
United KingdomFROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER, INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT,
REF: UKNL/26510460037/07
BATCH: 24/00319/IPDATTENTION: Sir/Madam
RE/AWARD NOTIFICATION: FINAL NOTICE
We are pleased to inform you of the announcement Today, 15th march, 2007, of winners of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, THE UNITED KINGDOM INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS held on 13th march, 2007 in Croydon,London. You email address was attached to ticket number 023-0148-790-459, with serial number 5063-11 drew The lucky numbers 43-11-44-37-10-43, and consequently Won you the lottery in the 2nd category.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay Of 500,000.00 British Pounds(GBP) in cash credited to file REF NO. UKNL/26510460037/07. This is from total prize money Of 2,000,000.00 British Pounds(GBP) shared among the four International winners in this category.
All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Website through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 companies as part of International Promotions Program, which is conducted annually. Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your 500,000.00 British Pounds(GBP)
This amount would be released to you by our preferred payment center in London. Our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the Release of your funds as soon as you contact him. For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. Please be warned.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid Double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants Of this program. To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary Agent;
NAME:AUSTINE MOORE.
#195 Edgware Road,
London W2 1EY
United Kingdom.
TELEPHONE: +44703189187
+447031925974
FAX: 0044 871 456 1331
EMAIL: aus_moore@hotmail.com
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
For due processing and remittance of your prize Money, please remember to quote your Reference and batch numbers in every one of your Correspondences with your agent. Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later Than three weeks from today. After this day, all funds will Be returned as unclaimed.
Furthermore, should there be any Change of your address; do inform your claims agent As soon as possible.
Congratulations again from all our staff and thank You for being part of our promotional lottery program.
Sincerely,
Dr Paul White
Zonal Co-ordinator
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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