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 "DR. Samuel Robertson" at "AUSTRALIA LOTTO LOTTERY INC." telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "the (PAYMENT DEPARTMENT) OF AUSTRALIAN LOTTO,for your fund to be transfered to your account. ( reeveschambers1@yahoo.com )" to collect your winnings? Do you see the obvious problem? Why would the Australian Lottery have you reply by email to a common, free, Yahoo account? Don't you think they have their own domain and email address?
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!
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 "AUSTRALIA LOTTO LOTTERY INC.".
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. 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.
AUSTRALIA LOTTO LOTTERY INC.
5th Floor East
Commonwealth Center
55 Currie Street
Adelaide SA 5000,
South Australia.
WINNING NOTIFICATION
We are delighted to inform you of the result of the E-mail address ballot lottery draw of the Australian cash-out lotto international pro gramme,which took place on the (8th of January 2007).This is a computer generated lottery of Internet users using email addresses for draws.
This lotto draw is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses from different World Wide Web-sites.Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 47061725 07056490902 with Serial number 7741137002 drew the lucky numbers and bonus ball number which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION U.S DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref:ILP/HW 47509/02.
This is from the total cash prize of TEN Million Dollars,shared amongst the first Ten (10) lucky winners in this category.All participant were selected randomly through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program me which is conducted annually.This Lottery is being promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of Multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base.
Further more your details(e-mail address) falls within our European representative office in Amsterdam,Holland, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of US$1,000,000.00 will be released to you from our regional branch office in Nigeria .We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$1.3 Billion international draw.Our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact the paying bank
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE:
Simply contact the (PAYMENT DEPARTMENT) OF AUSTRALIAN LOTTO,for your fund to be transfered to your account. (reeveschambers1@yahoo.com)
by filling this form below and sending it to the agent for your claim and also for the documentation of your fund.
LOTTERY WINNERS APPLICATION FORM OF PAYMENT.
FULL NAME.................................................
DATE OF BIRTH..................................
ADDRESS..................................................
SEX.........................
AGE..................................
MARITAL STATUS...................................
NATIONALITY...........................................
OCCUPATION...........................................
TELEPHONE..........................................
Please quote your reference,batch and winning number which can be found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your full name, address and telephone number to help locate your file easily.
For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential(VERY SECRET) from the public until your claim is processed and your prize money remitted/released to you.This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this pro gramme by some unscrupulous elements,equally to guard against non participant or unofficial personnel taking undue advantage of this program me. Note that, all winnings MUST be claimed by a STIPULATED TIME(ON OR BEFORE THE 21 days) otherwise all funds will be returned as Unclaimed and eventually be reabsorbed into our next lucky dip sweepstakes.
Congratulations once again on your winnings!!!
Yours in service,
Sincerely,
DR. Samuel Robertson
Online coordinator for
AUSTRALIAN LOTTO INC.
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION GUARANTEE
Fast and Efficient Processing Prompt Confirmation of Entry Winning Results Checked Automatically Entry is 100% Confidential You must be 16 or over to play or claim a prize
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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