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 "John A Edward" at "UK National Lottery" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact him at "john.edward123@yahoo.co.uk" 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!
We particularly like that the potential victim actually asks the scammer "are you for real or is this another scam?" Folks, let's make one thing clear: no scammer is going to TELL YOU that he's attempting to scam you. That would rather defeat the purpose, don't you think? Instead, they will tell you whatever you want to hear, whatever they think you will believe. You must use common sense and investigate!
Absolutely it is a scam. He's writing from a free Yahoo email account. The scammer is bring God into a business transaction, something no business professional in the Western World would ever do. He's telling you, in a transaction of a huge amount of money, that you worry too much about "Identity thefts and possible internet frauds". That is an insane and asinine thing to suggest.
His syntax and grammar are pathetic and indicative of a non-native English speaker, a child, or perhaps a simple moron: "strongly advice you;", "but be rest and assured".
Without question, it is a scam, as is and will be EVER email that you ever receive that tells you that you won money for these simple reasons:
You must buy a ticket to win a lottery.
A winning without a purchase is called a sweepstakes or promotion, not a lottery.
Random giveaways to people who have a "valid email address" has no business value and would be a pointless exercise in stupidity. NO BUSINESS, NO GOVERNMENT, NO ORGANIZATION OF ANY KIND WOULD DO THIS.
Lotteries are highly regulated: ordinary businesses like Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, BMW, etc, could not and would not sponsor nor operate a lottery.
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 "UK National 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. Other 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.
The Scammer wrote telling the victim that he won a lottery (we don't have that email), and the victim wrote, asking for some proof; to which the scammer replied:
-----Original Message-----
From: John A Edward <john.edward123@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent: Sat, 23 Feb 2008 2:02 pm
Subject: Attn: hhhhhh@aol.com (Email Owner)Dear email address owner
Thank you for your response. It is obvious that you bother too much about Identity Theft and possible Internet Frauds.
However, we really understand the reasons for your skepticisms. But be rest and assured that your Lottery Winning is real and legitimate. Maybe this is a way God wants to pay you back.
All you have to do now is to contact the Bank where your lottery funds are deposited. As soon as they receive your email, they will instruct you on their privacy terms & conditions as governed in their banking systems
I can assure you that you do not need to be scared about this winning notification that you have received from us. I cannot imagine myself lying to poor citizens for no good reason. I strongly advice you to follow all my advices and it shall be well with you. I am just an employee in this Lotteyr Office, but I think I can help you to the fullest you want.
Reply soon.
Greetings,
John Edward,
Claims Agent,
UK National Lottery.
The victim wrote back:
ARE YOU FOR REAL OR ANOTHER SCAM THAT YOU PEOPLE FROM THE UK ARE SENDING AS WELL I FEEL YOU ARE AND I DID SAVE EVERY EMAIL AND WILL TURN THEM OVER TO US AUTHORITIES
And the scammer replied: