Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
There are affiliate links on this page.
Read our disclosure policy to learn more.
Did you know that Yahoo has a lottery? And that they give away huge amounts of money to people simply for having "an active online email account"? This is news to Yahoo, too. If you received an email from "Dr Mrs Jenifer White" at "Yahoo! Mail" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "Mr Richard Olsen" to collect your winnings, it is a scam. Yahoo has never had any lottery (and we're pretty sure they never will). Yahoo certainly doesn't "collect email addresses" or selects winners "using a database of email addresses", or "from websites worldwide", or from "our computer ballot system". Each of those activities would be illegal in many countries, under existing privacy laws. Not to mention, it simply makes no sense for Yahoo to simply give away money. Real lotteries take in much more money than they give away, through ticket sales? Businesses are not lotteries - customers don't buy or use their products or services on the hope that the company will run a lottery for its customers. And it's just plain dumb to believe that!
The scammers may change the names and details, but it is still a scam! Don't be an complete imbecile!
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 "Yahoo! Mail".
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:
Yahoo does not have or sponsor any lottery.
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a "computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Yahoo 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. 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.) - often not even a Yahoo free account. Don't you think Yahoo would write from their own corporate address?
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: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTION MANAGER
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
REF NO: BTL/4910X1/04
BATCH NO: 12/25/0304
RE: YAHOO PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION!!!
Yahoo! Mail announces you as one of the 10 lucky winners in the ongoing Yahoo Lottery Draws . Your email address was attached to e-ticket number 564.756.005, with serial number 5388/08, which consequently won you the lottery in the 1st category. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from Microsoft users and other company/dividual email addresses of several domains around the globe.
Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a lump sum of £800,000.00 GBP (EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND GREAT BRITISH POUNDS STERLING ) in certified cheque. Please be advice to keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your prize remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program,
For verification and release of your winning, contact your claims officer vian email or fax below:
Mr Richard Olsen
Claim Security Offcer
Yahoo Lottery Mail Lottery Promotion
Tel: +44 704 574 4318
Fax: +44 203 002 5646
Email: richard.claimsofficer@yahoo.co.uk
You are to provide the below information to the Claims Officer to facilitate the processing and release of your claim
1.Your Full Name:
2.Your Age:
3.Your Address:
4.Your Nationality:
5.Your Telephone:
6.Your Fax Number:
The claims officer will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your prize as soon as you contact him. Endeavour to quote your winning batch number and reference numebr for confirmation of your winning in your correspondences with him.
Note: All winnings must be claimed not later than 10 days upon receipt of this notification. After this deadline, any unclaimed prize will be returned to TheYahoo Email Lottery Treasury as unclaimed. Furthermore, should there be any change in your address; do inform your Claims Officer as soon as possible.
Congratulations!!! once again from all our staff here.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Mrs Jenifer White
Promotions Manager
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
***