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Lottery Scams: Universal International Lottery SA Promotion for the World Cup
Lottery Scam Email:
Universal International Lottery
CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE THE WINNER
"MRS MARY NKOSI", "Mr. James Ali"
Have you received an email from "MRS MARY NKOSI" at "Universal International Lottery" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "Mr. James Ali" 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! Just look at the pathetic spelling and grammar and illogic: a random promotion giving away money to people who have an email address, in order to "creat awareness for the coming 2010 FIFA world Cup". What sense does that make?
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. See the email below, not the least of which are:
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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.
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"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!
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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.
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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?
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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!"
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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.
Actual scam email (One example - the scammers constantly change names, dates and addresses!):
Some are sent from: universal lottery [lotzza8@hotmail.com]
and with this subject line: CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE THE WINNER
UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY SA
UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL
LOTTERY SA
Congratulations!
The Universal International Lottery Promotion team is proud to inform you that you have won US$ 950,000.00 Why you have won Your E-mail address is one of 200 lucky Addresses who have won in the weekly Promotion.
See below how to claim your prize.
Details on the Winnings
Your Winning Reference Number is: LL1/240142 : Batch
Number18/006/1094/LIPDA/SL.
WINNING NUMBERS: 80, 35, 11, 72, 90, 41 (01)
I wish to Congratulate you on your victory, you are a lucky person to have won this lottery. Your email address was amongst those chosen this quarter from our new java-based software that randomly selects email addresses from the web from which winners are selected.
You are required to forward the following details to help facilitate the processing of your claims and certificate which will facilitate the Your winning price is to the tune of 950,000.00( Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand dollar. This correspondence officially confirms that we are in receipt of Instructions relating to the payment of your lottery winnings. Provided in attachment is a Non resident claims form you are required to completely fill the claims form with your correct information and submit it. We look forward to receive receipt of your information.
NAME :
COUNTRY:
COUNTRY OF RESIDENT:
AGE:
MOBILE NUMBER:
Remember, you must contact your claim agent Mr James,Call him and claim your prize after calling him send your refrence and batch number and all the above informations to his email address and call him to let him know that you have contacted him through email.
Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program.
for claiming of your prize and remember to quote your reference and Batch Number for easy processing of your prize. That's it! Our DUE PROCESS UNIT (DPU) will render to you complete assistance and provide additional information and processes for the claims of your consultation prize. For due processing of your winning claim, please contact the DPU Information Officer MR JAMES ALI who has been assigned to assist you.
You have to note that this program is being sponsored by the FIFA SUPPORT AFRICAN TEAM, to creat awareness for the coming 2010 FIFA world Cup, which is to be host by South Africa.
TO FILE YOUR CLAIM...
Contact Processing Manager: Mr. James Ali
EMAIL : universalclaimagentboard@yahoo.co.uk
EMAIL : universalclaimagentzza@yahoo.co.uk
Tel : +27 -83-5132796.
The International Universal Promotion team Congratulations once again on your winning.
Yours Faithfully,
MRS MARY NKOSI(ADMIN SEC)
PLEASE NOTE THAT BECAUSE OF THE INTERNET LOTTERY SCAMS,YOU MUST QUOTE YOUR SECURITY CODE (ZA-184/08) SO THAT THE SCAMMERS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GET YOUR WINNING INFORMATION.
Please do not reply on this email instead contact your claim officer with details above.
Names of Scam / Fake / Fraud Lottery
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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