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 "Christine Mcleonard" at "INTER - LOTTO INC" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "MR. GARY COLE" 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!
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 "INTER - LOTTO 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. 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.
From: INTER-LOTTO INC [ interlotto901@earthlink.net ]
Date of Notification: 22-01-2008
Ref: 4758961725
Batch: ALLINC 70564943902/188
Winning NO: FGNGB2701/LPRC
Attn: Winner,
We are delighted to inform you of your prize release on 22nd of January 2008 from the INTER - LOTTO INC promo program, which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses. Your e-mail was attached to ticket number; 47061725 07056490902, serial number 7741137002; this batch draws the lucky numbers as follows: 5-13-33-37-42 Bonus number 17, which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of 1,000,000.00 USD (ONE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) in cash, credit file Ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize of 8 million us dollars, shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. All participants were selected through a computer balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand e-mail addresses from North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Oceania as part of our International promotions program which is conducted annually. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens In the communities where they have operational base. your prize of 1,000,000.00 USD, will be processed by our Claims agent.
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Simply contact our fiduciary claims agent, MR. GARY COLE, HIS EMAIL ADDRESS IS:
garycole@inter-lotto.org to file for your claim. Please quote your reference, batch and winning number which can be found on the top left corner of this notification. This informations will help us locate your file easily. for security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize released to you.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this program by non-participant or unofficial personnel.
Note: Inability to claim price, due to lack of paper work, will warrant your winning money to be sent to charity
Congratulations once again on your winnings!
Best Regards,
Christine Mcleonard
Executive Co-ordinator
INTER - LOTTO INC
COPYRIGHT 2008 ALL RIGHT RESERVED
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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