Did you know that Yahoo has a lottery? And that they give
away huge amounts of money to people simply for having "an active online email
account"? This is news to Yahoo, too. If you received an email from "Dr. Flipe Stander" at "Messenger Yahoo! Lottery"
telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something
similar, and to contact "Mr. Ben Pinto" 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 lottery scam claiming to
be from the "Messenger Yahoo! Lottery".
-
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.
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:58:04 +0100
From: "mail dept" <
mail756dept7@web.de >
To:
mail756dept7@web.de
Subject: Congratulation
Messenger Yahoo! Lottery Results
!Yahoo
congratulates you!
--------------------------CONGRATULATIONS!--------------------------------------------------
Yahoo announces you as one of the ten (10) lucky winners
in the ongoing Yahoo Lottery Award of the year 2008.
All the 10 winning e-mail addresses were randomly
selected from the World Server and it is as part of our International
Promotional Program and therefore, encouraging the use of E-mail. This is the
first time this Program is being conducted this year.
Consequently, you have been approved for a total pay of
SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE DOLLARS. ($600,000.00). This Lottery was
promoted and Sponsored by a conglomerate of Yahoo and the WORLD BANK as part of
their social responsibility to the citizens in the Communities where they have
Operational base and all E-mail users at large.
In addition, your e-mail address falls within our
Spanish representative office in Madrid Spain .
PROCEDURES FOR CLAIMING YOUR FUND.
Contact your Agent and provide your winning
Identification Codes and the following information.
1) FULL NAMES
2) COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
3) POSTAL ADDRESS
4) DATE OF BIRTH
5) SEX
6) MARITAL STATUS
7) OCCUPATION
8) TELEPHONE NUMBER
9) FAX NUMBER
10) REFERENCE NUMBER, BATCH NUMBER AND
LUCKY NUMBER
IDENTIFICATION CODES
1) Batch Number: 12115-04/SZ
2) Reference Number: YA/0999/171
3) Lucky Numbers: 9-13-21-30-31-44
For security reasons,
we strongly advice all Winners to
keep this information confidential from the public until the claim is processed
and your prize released to you. This is part of our Security Protocols to avoid
double claiming and unwarranted taking of advantage of this program by
non-selected winner(s) or un-official Personnel.
NOTE THIS:
YOU ARE NOW BEING ADVISED TO CALL THE TELEPHONE NUMBER
BELOW TO TRACK YOUR PAYMENT ON LINE, THE WORLD BANK FUND CONFIRMATION UNIT IN
SWITZERLAND
TEL: 0041 -445801493 ext. 4 / FAX:
0041-43-430-21-02
LOTTERY PRIZE AWARD DEPOSIT ACCOUNT TRACKING NUMBER IS:
784285
AGENT CONTACTS
Mr. Ben Pinto
Ego Seguros Espaņa S.A
Avda Alberto Aguilera 54-65 28018
Madrid, Spain.
Fax: +34-911814103
Tel: +34-697419725
e-mail:
egorseguros@aim.com
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Flipe Stander
LOTTO CO-ORDINATOR
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