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Lottery Scam Email:
Prize of America Jackpot
"yyy", "xxx"
Have you received an email from "yyy" at "Prize of America Jackpot" telling you that "your
email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to
contact "xxx" to collect your winnings? It is a
scam. No legitimate, legal lottery notifies winners via email (see footnote)!
Plus, since Google found NO relevant results for a search on "Prize of America
Jackpot" nor " Prize of America", I think we can be certain this is a scam.
The area code, 778, is for Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
and is obviously not toll free, as the scammer told the victim.
The scammers may
change the names and details, but it is still a scam!
Below is the example of the fake lottery scam claiming to
be from the "Prize of America Jackpot".
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.
Email from a consumer who received the letter in the mail / post om
APril 16, 2008:
(One example - the scammers constantly change
names, dates and addresses!):
Received a letter in the mail with no return address and
postmarked from Canada.
It said I won the Prize of America Jackpot from August
21st, 2007 announcement and as a result won category A. Inside was also a check
in the amount of $2,900.00 payable to me. I am to contact Candy Rose prior to
depositing the check at toll free 1-778-316-5115. The letter head at the top is
P.&A. Financial, P.O. Box 79767, Washington, DC 20002-0587.
Names of Scam / Fake / Fraud Lottery
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.
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