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 "Gill Watkins" at the "British Lottery Headquarters of the British Lottery International programs" telling you that you won the a prize and to contact "Anthony Hawkins"? 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.
Isn't odd that a British lottery wants to pay you in US dollars? 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.
Sent from Anthony Hawkins [ callken4me@yahoo.com ]
with Subject: NEW YEAR WINNING NOTIFICATION RESULT ( CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON $2,500, 000....
British Lottery Headquarters:
Customer Service.
41 CHALK FARM ROAD, LONDON, UK
Ref: BTL/491OXI/04
Batch: 12/25/0304
WINNING NOTIFICATION
We happily announce to you the draw of the British Lottery International programs recently held in London .
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 564 75600545-188 with serial number 5388/02 drew the lucky numbers: 31-6-26-13-35-7,which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$2,500,000.00 (Two million, five hundred thousand, United States Dollars) in cash credited to file RPC/9080118308/04 made available from a total cash prize of US $125 Million dollars, shared amongst the first Fifty (50) lucky winners in this category.
All participants were selected randomly from world wide web sites through a computer drawn system and extracted from over 100,000 companies. This promotion takes place annually.
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our booklet representative office in Europe as indicated in our play coupon. In view of this, your US$2,500,000.00 (Two million, five hundred thousand, United States Dollars) would be released to you by our affiliate bank in London as soon as you establish contact.
Please be warned. To file for your claim, contact our fiduciary agent with the below details;
AGENT: Anthony Hawkins.
Email: anthonyhawkins.btlonline@yahoo.se
Please provide him with your details such as:
Name:
Age:
Sex:
Address:
Nationality:
Occupation:
Phone Numbers:
Email:
YOU ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT HIM VIan email IMMEDIATELY YOU GET THIS NOTIFICATION
To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, quote your reference/batch numbers in any correspondences with us or our designated agent. Congratulations once more.
Faithfully,
Gill Watkins Esq.
Secretary General
British Lottery Board.
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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