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Reports of
Lottery, Sweepstakes and Promotions Scams
from Consumers and Victims
Of the many reports of lottery, sweepstakes and promotions scams
we receive, most are such obvious scams, they are easy to spot. Some are not so
easily detected or verified. We pass those on below, with the understanding that
we are not able to independently confirm or deny them. If you find
yourself in a situation like those described below, we would urge you take
caution.
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, 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.
Unedited reports from consumers and victims:
March 27, 2008:
There is a International Sweepstakes fraud going on. I received a check in
the mail for $3,890.00 from an international sweepstakes. The letter said that I
had won a sweepstakes from last year weith a winning ticket #TS2564-98T in which
I had won the sumof $183,200.00 in US money and the money was placed under
government authorized bond. The company is located at 200-10455 Jefferson Hwy
Baton Rouge, La. I have checked the internet and found nothing of this
sweepstakes place. they also assigned me a agent his name is Kevin Jones his
phone number is 1-778-316-4408 and the toll free number that's suppose to be the
prize office but there is no answer and they don't call back is 1-877-586-4228.
I have the letter they nmailed me with the check for $3,890.00 and this is
supposed to be used for insurance and processing fees for the big check in the
amount of $183,200.00. The check I received had ALM Corporation on it. The bank
it came from was Citizens Bank but I can't remember where it was located. Could
you please help me and help so others don't have to go through this
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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