Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
There are affiliate links on this page.
Read our disclosure policy to learn more.
Translate this page to any language by choosing a language in the box below.
Have you received an email from "Peter Green" at the "Verifications Dept. at the headquarters of The UK National Lottery" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "Desmond Smith"? It is a scam. But at least they give you 3 options to be scammed! You get to choose your own level of gullibility! Notice that if you pay the "courier charges" (what?) in dollars, they you pay in fractions of a cent.
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.
Courier / delivery charges are high due to Hardcover insurance Policy - First, as we mentioned earlier, no winner would ever have to pay delivery charges in a real lottery, sweepstakes or promotion. Secondly, there is no such thing as "hardcover insurance policies" . Go search in Google and see if you can find a definition for it!
Here is a typical scam lottery winning notification.
From: tntcourierservices_1@yahoo.co.uk
ATTENTION:CUSTOMER,
This is to inform you that you have been officially cleared for payment by the Verifications Dept. at the headquarters of The UK National Lottery. The original copy of this certificate from the British Government stating that the money was obtained legally through The UK National Lottery and will be sent to you or your bank as soon as you meet with any of the options selected and your winnings will be couriered or transferred to you immediately.
You can now begin the final step of the claims process, which is the transferring of your cash prize to you either in Cash/Cheque. With regards to this, there are three options open to you, you are required to select the most convenient of the three.
The options, together with their associated conditions are presented below:
OPTIONS:
Courier of your winning draft to you via any of this channel listed below:
Option:1
TNT EXPRESS DELIVERY (Overnight) Mailing.................................£30.00
Insurance.............................£60.00
Vat (5%)................................£24.75
TOTAL..................................£114.75=====OR===$224.863
Option:2
TNT PREMIUM SERVICE(2working days) Mailing.................................£25.00
Insurance.............................£40.00
Vat (5%)................................£18.95
TOTAL..................................£83.95=====OR===$164.508
Option:3
TNT REGULAR SERVICE(4working days)
Mailing ;.............................£10.00
Insurance.............................£20.00
Vat (5%)..............................£19.00
TOTAL.................................£49.00=====OR===$95.935
MODE OF PAYMENT
The charges are a little bit high because of the Hardcover insurance Policy we have undertaken incase of loss,Damage or Theft of your highly sensitive document and funds. We assume all responsibilities incase of any eventualities and we don't deliver on cash on delivery(C.O.D) because we don't accept cash.
You are to make the payment for any of the option you have choosen through Western Union Money Transfer so as to enable us speedy up the process of delivery after indicating to us the option you prefer. You are to locate the nearest western union agent to you and make the payment in Favour of our Accounts Officer Mr.Desmond Smith with the Details Below:
RECEIVERS INFORMATIONS
NAME OF RECEIVER: DESMOND SMITH
ADDRESS OF RECEIVER:LINK HOUSE,1C CHURCH STREET
SW1 5TT,
LONDON
You are to send the following information vian email as they appear on the western union transfer slip:
1.Name and address of sender
2.Amount sent
3.Control number(MTCN)
4.Test question and answer (if any)
You are to send a copy of the evidence of payment to me and your claims agent as well for confirmation. A Confirmatory Email shall be sent to you Immediately we Confirm your Payment.
As soon as we receive confirmation and evidence of payment of the above charges, we shall dispatch your parcel to you immediately. The date and time of departure and expected date of delivery will be sent to you. It will take twenty-four hours to get your parcel delivered to you. You will be required to sign for the parcel and to do this, you will need either your international passport as identification or your driver's license.
All orders not delivered within Ten (10) working days from this communication will be returned. Please ensure that you confirm your delivery address.We are glad to be of service to you.
Kindly Note that you are to inform us of the option you have choosen while we await your Evidence of Payment.
Sincerely,
Mr.Peter Green.
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
***