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 "Maria" at "Shell Federal Credit Union" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "Blair Hodge" to collect your winnings? It is a scam. No legitimate, legal lottery notifies winners vian email (see footnote)! The scammers may change the names and details, but it is still a scam!
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 "Shell Federal Credit Union", related by the victim.
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. Typical warning signs are:
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.
"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. Names are usually in all capital letters for some reason known only to these illiterate criminals. 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.). Don't you think a real organization would use it's own email, it's 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! 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.
Hello,
A little over a week ago, I received 2 cashier's checks drawn from the Shell Federal Credit Union in Wood River, IL, one for $640 and one for $11,000 (+/-). They were under the cover of an envelope that used a most-likely computer-generated address label. The accompanying letter advised I had won a contest, and I had until May 10 to claim my winnings. I called the 888 number on the checks and advised I suspected it was a scam, but the very convincing person on the other end made the whole transaction seem perfectly legitimate. My instructions were to cash the $640 check and use the cash to purchase a Person to Person money gram to "Blair Hodge" of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. The money gram was for the purchase of a Surety Bond that would render the $11,000 check negotiable. Once dispatched, I was to telephone Maria again and then fax to her a copy of my I.D. - but she cautioned me to blot out my DL # and any other personal information, just the source of ID was all she needed.
I did as I was instructed; the next day, "Elizabeth" from the mail room called and left a message, advising that I needed to send another $320 Person to Person money gram to "Elizabeth Crenshaw" at the same Ontario address to cover the Fed Ex customs fees. This sent up the red flag (all too late). I called Maria back and she stated she did not realize that the additional $320 was necessary, but that it was for Fed Ex to do their ex-ray and search of the Surety Bond package.
I then called the real Shell Federal Credit Union, finding their phone number on the Web, and talked with Kathy. She advised it was, in fact, a scam, and that she had called the 888 number, as well, and found them to appear very legitimate.
The "Secured Bond Bureau" lists an address on their "Surety Bond Purchase Requisition Form" of 855 Arcola Ave., Regina, SK, S4N 0S9. The address on their letter from "Fidelity Solutions" advising of my contest winnings is 436 McDonald St., Regina, SK S4N 6E1.
"Maria's" direct line was 416-831-2834, and her fax was 646-403-4126.
"Elizabeth's" phone number was 416-871-9755.
Is there someone else I should report this to - and do I have any recourse? I know I probably got off easy, but when my bank gets that check back unpaid, it will hurt me in a big way financially.
Anything you can do to assist me with this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Very truly yours,
[name withheld by CFR]
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
* Re: emails of winnings. We know of only ONE exception in the world to this rule - and if you bought a ticket from them, you would know it, and would used their safegaurds.
* Re: emails of winnings. We know of only ONE exception in the world to this rule - and if you bought a ticket from them, you would know it, and would not be questioning it.