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Lottery Scams: State Lottery International Lottery Sweepstake Online Lottery International program
Lottery Scam Email:
State Lottery International Lottery Sweepstake Online Lottery International program
"yyy", "xxx"
Have you received an email from "yyy" at "State Lottery International Lottery Sweepstake Online Lottery International program" telling you that "your email address won in the second category" or something similar, and to contact "xxx" 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 "State Lottery International Lottery Sweepstake Online Lottery International program".
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:
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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.
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"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!
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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.
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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?
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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!"
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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.
Actual scam email (One example - the scammers constantly change names, dates and addresses!):
Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0
Received: from NYEXC02.WEMED.com ([10.1.3.209]) by WPEXC01.WEMED.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);
Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:10:25 -0400
Received: from smtp.wemed.com ([10.1.99.115]) by NYEXC02.WEMED.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.1830);
Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:10:24 -0400
Received: from [172.18.1.116] by smtp.wemed.com with SMTP (Tumbleweed MMS SMTP Relay); Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:10:12 -0400
X-Server-Uuid: E2B896A1-5653-4148-B77F-4B1B139B8922
X-WSS-ID: 0JZFML2-01-QDK-01
X-TMWD-IP-Reputation: SIP=209.59.168.160; IPRID=303030312E30413031303330312E34383036344631322E30303435; CTCLS=T1; CAT=Unknown
Received: from srs002.sourcedns.com (waynorth.net [209.59.168.160]) by NYMLG01.WEMED.COM (Tumbleweed MailGate 3.5.1) with SMTP id 20027100E851A for <stacey.riccardi@wilsonelser.com>; Wed, 16 Apr 2008
15:10:14 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:43809 helo=cdfnetworks.com) by srs002.sourcedns.com with esmtpa (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from
<scott_gills7111@yahoo.it>) id 1JmCxN-0001Vg-H9; Wed, 16 Apr 2008
15:06:09 -0400
Received: from 82.128.13.118 ([82.128.13.118]) (SquirrelMail authenticated user chad@cdfnetworks.com) by cdfnetworks.com with HTTP; Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:06:09 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <1510.82.128.13.118.1208372769.squirrel@cdfnetworks.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:06:09 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: STATE LOTTERY WINNERS $2.5 MILLION DOLLARS
From: "STATE LOTTERY"
Reply-to: raymondthompson72@sbcglobal.net
User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.9a
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
Importance: Normal
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - srs002.sourcedns.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - wilsonelser.com
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - yahoo.it
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
X-WSS-ID: 6418909E2YS1485478-01-01
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Return-Path: scott_gills7111@yahoo.it
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 16 Apr 2008 19:10:24.0744 (UTC) FILETIME=[86345680:01C89FF5]
STATE LOTTERY WINNERS (HEADQUARTERS)
ATTENTION: WINNER!!!
TICKET NUMBER: 8652246896
SERIAL NUMBER: 002-662
BATCH NUMBER: AT-040SB06-03
WINNING NOTIFICATION:
We happily announce to you the draw of the State Lottery International Lottery Sweepstake Online Lottery International programs held on the 16th of APRIL, 2008 in BRESCIA ITALY Your e-mail address attached to ticket
number: 8652246896 with Serial number 002-662 drew the lucky
numbers:AT-040SB06-03 , which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum ofUS$2,500,000.00(Two million, Five Hundred Thousand United States
Dollars) in cash credited to file SRF/9023118308/03.This is from a total cash prize of US $ 2.5 Million dollars, shared among the first Ten (10)lucky winners in this Category. All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Website through computer draw system and extracted from over 100, 000 companies.
This promotion takes place annually Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our African booklet representative office in West Africa as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your $2,500,000.00 (Two million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) would be released to you by our payment office in Africa. Our African agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. Please be warned to file for your claim.
Please contact our fiduciary agent:
NAME: RAYMOND THOMPSON
TELE: 011-234-808-124-1980
E-MAIL: raymondthompson72@sbcglobal.net
To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please quote your full details correctly, because if what we have on our system those not comply or match with what we have on the system, payment not be made to you in any way.
1. Full Names: ------------------------------------------
2. Residential Address: --------------------------------- 3. Phone Number: ------------------------------------
4. Fax Number:----------------------------------
5. Occupation: --------------------------------------
6. Sex: ----------------------------------------------------
7. Age: -----------------------------------------------------
8. Nationality: --------------------------------------------
9. Present Country: ---------------
10. Ticket Number :-------------------------------------------
11. Payment Method :-------------------------------------------
12. Any Copy Identification :-------------------------------------------
NA : WINNERS BE WARNED THAT YOUR PAYMENT WILL BE PAID TO YOU BY WIRE TRANSFER OR CHECK OR COME DOWN TO OUR OFFICE IN ANY OF OUR BRANCH IN HOLLAND,LAGOS SPAIN,UNITED KINGDOM.
Sincerely,
Buddy W. Roogow, Director
State International Lottery Online Co-ordinator Sweepstakes International Program.
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.
