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.
Have you received an email from "Mrs. Rose Wood" at the "UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL LOTTERY" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "Michael Field"? 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.
Courier / delivery charges are high due to Hardcover insurance Policy - If you respond to them, you will usually receive an email telling you you must pay delivery charges. 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: "UK LOTTERY BOARD" <web_alert98@bellsouth.net>
infouk@lottery.co.uk
FROM: UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL LOTTERY
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 20:18:13 -0400UK NATIONAL LOTTERY HEADQUARTERS:
P O Box 1010 Liverpool, L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)REF No:UKNL-L/200-26937
BATCH No:2005MJL-01
TICKET No:20511465463-7644
SERIAL No:S/N-00168
LUCKY No: 887-13-865-37-10-83FINAL NOTIFICATION
This is to inform you that you have been selected for a cash prize of £1,000,000.00 (British Pounds) held on the 1st of June 2007 in London Uk. The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection system(ess) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from which you were selected.
The BRITISH UK. Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board.To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact our fiduaciary claims department for more infomation as regards procedures to claim your prize.
please contact our claims agent;
Mr. Michael Field
TELL:+44 70457 08236
TELL: +44-701-112-8624
Email: infoukclaims_agent@yahoo.co.uk
Provide him with the information below:
1.Full Name:
2.Full Address:
3.Marital Status:
4.Occupation:
5.Age:
6.Sex:
7.Nationality:
8.Country Of Residence:
9.Telephone Number:
Sincerely,
Mrs. Rose Wood
for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.
NOTE: You are to contact your officer immediately with the official
EMAIL ADDRESS: infoukclaims_agent@yahoo.co.uk
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
***