Lottery Scams: Central Bank, Professor Charles, Office of the Governor, Tinubu Square, Victoria Island

Lottery Scam Email:
Central Bank, Office of the Governor, Tinubu Square, Victoria Island
"Professor Charles"

Have you received an email from "Professor Charles" at "Central Bank, Office of the Governor, Tinubu Square, Victoria Island" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact PROF. CHARLES 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 "Central Bank, Office of the Governor, Tinubu Square, Victoria Island".  

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.

• 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. 

• Master list of sample lottery scam emails

• How to recognize a lottery scam

• What to do if you think you have been the victim of a lottery scam

• How the lottery / sweepstakes scams work

Actual scam email (One example - the scammers constantly change names, dates and addresses!):

From: "PROF.CHARLES"
Subject: GET BACK NOW
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 01:54:41 +0000
 

                                                    

                  CENTRAL BANK

       TINUBU SQUARE,VICTORIA ISLAND

               

              [OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR]  

  

 CONTRACT #: MAV/NNPC/FGN/MIN/009,
 Swift Code: BPH KPL PK,
 A/C#: 32780612669g8

  

 AMOUNT: $15.5 MILLION
 
 
 

ATTN:

 

 

             I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT ALL IS IN YOUR HANDS NOW AND I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I AM WILLING TO WORK AND MAKE SURE THAT YOUR PAYMENT BANK DRAFT GETS TO YOU AND TO AVOID ANY PROBLEM.

 

I WANT TO ASSURE YOU THAT I CAN PERSONALLY HELP YOU DELEIEVER IT IF YOU WANT AND IF YOU DO NOT WANT ME TO DELIVER IT ,YOU CAN USE THE COURIER COMPANY,IF ONLY YOU CAN PAY THE SUM OF 800$ AS A DELIVERY CHARGES AND OTHER THINGS THAT SHOULD BE PAID FOR AND ONCE YOU CAN BE ABLE TO PAY

 

THE MONEY VIA MONEY GRAM OR WESTERN UNION I WILL MAKE SURE THAT ON MONDAY YOU WILL BE GETTING YOU DRAFT AS YOU KNOW AM JUST A MANAGER HERE AND I DO ACCORDING TO OTHERS AND I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT HIS NAME IS IN AMONG TO DUE FOR THE PAYMENT  

I KNOW THAT YOU NEED HELP AND AM HERE TO GIVE IT TO YOU AND GOD KNOWS THAT I WILL MAKE SURE THAT YOU GET YOUR DRAFT ON MONDAY IF ONLY YOU CAN GIVE ME YOUR TRUST AND SURPORT THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS

 

YOUR KNOW HOW MUCH INVOLVED IN THE DRAFT HERE AND YOU KNOW THAT YOU SHOULD NOT DELAY BEFORE THE NEW PRESIDENT CANCELS THE PAYMENT APPROVED TO YOU.

 

HERE IS THE INFORMATIONS YOU SHOULD SEND THE MONEY WITH

 

RECIVERS NAME:: BROWN FRANKLIN CHIMA

PLACE ? LAGOS/NIGERIA

AMOUNT? $800

TEST QUESTION/ WHO AM I?

ANSWER/ PROF

 

THEN YOU WILL GIVE ME ALL THE DETAILS REQUIRED TO COLLECT THE MONEY AND THE FULL DETAILS YOU USED AND THE SCAN COPY OF THE PAYMENT

 

ONCE YOUR PAYMENT IS VERIFIED I WILL GET INTOUCH WITH YOU IMMEDAITLY.

 

WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON.CALL ME FOR ANY MORE INFORMATIONS.

+2348060321262

 

PROF.CHARLES

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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