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 "Rev. Philip Durund" at "Yahoo Splash Promotions"
telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something
similar, and to contact him at the "Yahoo Claims Department" to collect your winnings, it is a scam.
Yahoo has
never had any lottery (and we're pretty sure they never will). We doubt
whether any "Reverend" would even consider work for a lottery, given the obvious
conflict with religion! 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 "Yahoo Splash Promotions".
-
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.
Awards Department - Yahoo Splash Promotions Stockport
Road, Longsight, Manchester M60 2DB - United Kingdom
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear ________________,
We acknowledge the receipt of your mail with regard to
the winning notification as earlier sent to you from the Awards Department. The
2008 Award of the Yahoo United Kingdom is no doubt, a momentous achievement in
the chequered history of this Organisation.
On behalf of the entire staff of the Organisation, I
wish to congratulate the Director of Yahoo Inc. and other non-Governmental
Organisations who have in no little way contributed immensely towards the
success of this draw as well as taking concrete steps towards it's
actualization. All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web
through computer draw system and e-mail addresses were extracted from over
170,287 companies and 454,980,476 Websites. This promotion is part of the
financial empowerment programme of Yahoo United Kingdom in it's struggle to
alleviate poverty.
While basking in the euphoria of this achievement, I
wish to seize this opportunity to acquaint you with guidelines as you must
follow in order to complete your claims. On our part, we have a mandate to see
you through. We will work assiduously to realize this mandate as we respect your
views, opinions and most importantly preserve your dignity and confidentiality.
We would also like you to use the fund that you shall be getting in the field
that will benefit the less privileged people around you.
Please, Kindly provide us with the following information
for the preparation of your Certificate of Award and filing of your claim;
Full name.......................................
Address.........................................
Age...............................................
Sex...............................................
Nationality......................................
Home Telephone #...........................
Office Telephone #...........................
Mobile Telephone #..........................
Fax #.............................................
E-mail address.................................
Marital Status..................................
Occupation......................................
You may also receive similar e-mails from people
portraying to be other Organizations or Yahoo Awards. This is solely to collect
your personal information from you and lay claim over your Fund. If you receive
any mail similar to the notification letter that was sent to you earlier, Kindly
forward a copy to us and delete it from your mail box and give no further
correspondence to such person or body. Yahoo Awards shall not be held
responsible for any loss of fund arising from the above mentioned.
Once again, We congratulate you for this landmark
achievement and implore you with the responsibility of ensuring successful
claims.
We will get back to you with further proceedings on
receipt of your mail.
Kind Regards,
Rev. Philip Durund
(Claims
Department)
