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 "Mr. Jerry Brassfield " at "GNLD INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "Mr. Gerald Martins" 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 "GNLD INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY".
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:
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.
From: info@gnld.com
Reply-to: gnldclaimsdepartment@gmail.com
Sent: 3/4/2008 9:21:47 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOUR EMAIL WON THE GNLD LOTTERY AWARD.(YOU ARE TO CONTACT OUR CLAIMS DEPARTMENT)
GNLD INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD
Golden Neo Life Diamite (GNLD)
A Better Way Of Life
People Empowering People
HEAD OFFICE
UNITED KINGDOM
4 More London Riverside
London.
SE1 2AU
Batch No........ GNLD/NU543GY852
Ref No............ GNLD/GY901KJ540
Winning No.....GNLD/94-1- 2-17-43-52
Dear Winner,
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of SIX HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND US DOLLARS($650,000.00) credited to file GNLD/W0254674679BQ, held in the Month of MARCH 2008 being the Lottery promotion which was organized by GOLDEN NEO LIFE DIAMITE LOTTERY INC (GNLD)
GOLDEN NEO LIFE DIAMITE LOTTERY INC (GNLD), collects all the email addresses of the people that are using electonic mails among the millions that subscribed to Yahoomail, Hotmail, Aol, Earthlink, Comcast, Gmail, Myway, ETC. You have been selected as the winner of the lottery prize award through electronic balloting System without(You) the winner participating for it, we congratulate you for being our lucky winner in this Month.
GNLD It comes as no surprise that a 48 year old company would have a very seasoned team of field leadership as well. Solid field leadership is the life blood to any successful company, at GNLD our field leaders have helped countless thousands of individuals build successful businesses, many of those businesses are providing a better way of life by providing this Lottery programme to the priviledge which is a way of helping the individuals.
In the area of Health, we empower people with knowledge and scientifically proven products to maximize your potential for lifelong health.
In the area of Financial Independence, we empower people by providing them this lottery programme inorder to breakdown financial diseases.
These numbers fall within the European Winning Coupon, you are requested to contact our CLAIMS OFFICE in United Kingdom using these contact information below. For more information on how you can claim your winning prize (money),send your winning identification numbers to them.
GNLD CLAIMS/PROCESSING OFFICE CONTACT INFORMATION
Claims/Processing Officer's Name:Mr. Gerald Martins
Emerald Director / Distributor
Distributor ID No. A1983M
Telephone Number: +44-704-576-7673
Fax Number:+44-700-600-7756
Contact : gnldclaimsoffice@yahoo.co.uk
Call to the processing officer for further clarifications on the release of your winning prize.
CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN
Yours In Service
Mr. Jerry Brassfield
GNLD Founder .
People Empowering People
© Copyright 2007, GNLD International, LLC. All rights reserved
United Kingdom Chapter.
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.