Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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Did you know that Yahoo has a lottery? And they operate together with their arch rive, Microsoft? And that they give away huge amounts of money to people simply for having "an active online email account"? This is news to Yahoo and Microsoft, too. If you received an email from "Mrs. Susan Handerson" at "YAHOO! MSN International Promotion" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "Sir Newton Handerson" to collect your winnings, it is a scam. Yahoo has never had any lottery (and we're pretty sure they never will). Yahoo certainly doesn't "collect email addresses" or selects winners "using a database of email addresses", or "from websites worldwide", or from "our computer ballot system". Each of those activities would be illegal in many countries, under existing privacy laws. Not to mention, it simply makes no sense for Yahoo to simply give away money. Real lotteries take in much more money than they give away, through ticket sales? Businesses are not lotteries - customers don't buy or use their products or services on the hope that the company will run a lottery for its customers. And it's just plain dumb to believe that!
The scammers may change the names and details, but it is still a scam! Don't be an complete imbecile!
Below is the example of the fake email scam (the email is the scam, not any persons or companies named in the email) claiming to be from the "YAHOO! MSN International Promotion".
Although the most important clue is that no legitimate lottery will ever email a winner, there are many other signs that this is a fraud. We have highlighted some of these in the email below, not the least of which are:
Yahoo does not have or sponsor any lottery.
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a "computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Yahoo has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they suggest.
"No tickets were sold": You care to explain where the money comes from? Perhaps the lottery money fairy? Why would a lottery give away money to "email address randomly selected by a computer ballot draw system"? This is CLEARLY nonsense: you MUST, repeat MUST buy a ticket to have a chance of winning any lottery!
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 excessive and random CapItaLiZAtion. They often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd". These scammers usually write at the 3rd grade level. Being non-native English speakers, they also often get first names and surnames (last names reversed), so you will frequently see names like "Mr. SMITH JAMES.", instead of "Mr. James Smith", along with the peculiar usage of periods (full stops) and spaces or the lack thereof. Real lotteries also proofread their emails and look and read more professional.
Using free email account: The scammer is writing to you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, Excite, AIM, Gmail, etc.) - often not even a Yahoo free account. Don't you think Yahoo would write from their own corporate address?
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! It should read: "For our own security, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until we have finished scamming you!"
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.
Date: 03/17/2008 06:48PM
From: abodna@charter.net
Subject: YAHOO/MSN AWARDS WINNING NOTIFICATION !!!
Dear Esteemed Winner
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the YAHOO! MSN International Promotions Program held on the 5th of March 2008. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 883734657492-5319 with serial number 7263-267 batch number 8254297137 drew the lucky numbers 14-22-28-37-40-44 which consequently won in the 1st category you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of =A3500 000.00 i.e Five Hundred Thousand United Kingdom Pounds in cash credited to file REF:YAHOO6/315116127/27.his is from total prize money of US$20 400 000.00 shared among the seventeen international winners in this category.Please note that this Promotional Programmes tagged "Thanks for contributing to our financial Sucess" was sponsored and organized by the Yahoo Corporation in view of the financial benefits YAHOO have received from its numerous customers either through adverts hosting and personal emails.To file for your claims please contact your claims agent immediately to begin your claimsprocess:Sir Newton Handerson Email: sir.newton@live.com You are to contact him with the following information: Your Full Names Your Contact Address Your Telephone and Fax numbers Occupation Sex Age and Location.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Your Sincerely
Mrs. Susan Handerson
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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